P-06-1256 Hold a referendum on Wales becoming a Nation of sanctuary

This petition was submitted by Daniel Morgan, having collected a total of 1,170 signatures.

Text of Petition:                     

With recent events in Afghanistan and Mark Drakeford reminding us all how the Welsh Government want Wales to be a Nation of Sanctuary, we truly believe that this should be a decision made by the Welsh people. We feel that as its the people of Wales who will be funding part of this through taxes, we have a right to decide if this is a decision that is right for the Welsh people. Hold a referendum on Wales being a nation of sanctuary.

Additional Information:

Recently, Mark Drakeford tweeted "We want Wales to be a Nation of Sanctuary and we'll do everything we can to support evacuations from Afghanistan".

Tweet Link Here - https://twitter.com/fmwales/status/1427656430224613386

There has been many comments how Wales simply doesn't have the facilities nor financial infrastructure to take in and house people from all over the world. As mentioned, we have our own homelessness, drugs/alcohol and mental health crisis and on top of that, due to Covid the economy is crashing. There is a fair argument that whilst we have our own problems at the scale in which we do, we cannot support any more. For these reasons, we demand a referendum on Wales becoming a nation of sanctuary. This decision should never have been made with no vote from the public. No one was elected on a manifesto or promise to do this.

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 21/03/2022.

The Committee reiterated the heartfelt offers of support from the people of Wales standing in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and the strong support expressed by Members of the Senedd, reinforcing how Wales wishes to welcome asylum seekers and refugees.

The Committee noted that a consultation has already taken place on the Nation of Sanctuary plan which was widely supported. Therefore it agreed to thank the petitioner and close the petition.

Full details of the consideration of this petition by the Committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 21/03/22.

Senedd Constituency and Region

• Swansea East
• South Wales West

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