//What I can't understand is why this scheme can't be applied to genuine refugees from anywhere else.//
Because, as I explained in a thread about two weeks ago (and was labelled "selfish" for my trouble) letting someone live in your spare room is not even the half of it:
https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1788139.html
To save you trawling through the thread, this is what I wrote (in response to the question "Would you take Ukrainian refugees"?):
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Absolutely not.
We should not be encouraging any more people to come to the UK. We do not have the accommodation for them but most importantly our public services (particularly the NHS) are under extreme pressure and cannot cope with those already here. Every service (both public and private) that anybody needs is under pressure. Schools are full; hospital waiting lists are at record levels; you can’t get any building or maintenance work done for months. Plainly and simply the country is unable to cope with any more people. It may have been different if successive governments had not encouraged the world and her husband to settle on these shores over the past two or three decades. We may have had a bit more room if the chancers, seeking succour and safety from the perils they face living in northern France, had not been allowed to make their way unhindered in their thousands to Kent. But we are where we are. First come first served and unfortunately the Ukranians have lost out.
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And this is the first response made to that post:
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I've never thought much of you New Judge but I didn't think you'd sink this low in my estimation...not that you'll care what I think because you care little about anyone else but your selfish self.
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My viewpoint hasn't changed. What's happening in Ukraine is tragic and outrageous. But unfortunately the UK has neither the accommodation nor the slack in vital services to accommodate refugees. My view might be different if the government was not allowing hundreds of people to arrive daily in Kent from the safety of northern France. But it continues to allow it. Some 4,000 (that we know of) have arrived this year so far. Last Thursday a 40 foot long rubber boat was escorted by the French navy until it met a UK Border Farce vessel to ensure its 50 or so passengers were safely transferred for their final few miles. This was the 126th such landing this year.
So, sorry, no room for Ukranians so no need to vet those hoping to host them. I'd love the UK to help out as I think if anybody qualifies as refugees it is them. But the government has chosen to spend its taxpayers' money to less worthy causes.