"Labour should match this, this is a challenge to other parties and particularly to the government… I don’t want us to be the kind of country who turns our back on those in desperate need, this is about Britain doing it’s fair share," Farron was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper.
The estimated cost of resettling 50,000 Syrian refugees would amount to about $5.3 billion, according to the Liberal Democrats.
The party also calls on re-opening the so-called Dubs amendment to the UK Immigration Act 2016, allowing for the acceptance of unaccompanied refugee children to the United Kingdom from Europe. The scheme was effectively suspended earlier this year, with the government claiming that local authorities had reached the limit of their resources and were not able to accept anymore refugee children.
The current UK program, launched in 2014, envisages resettling 20,000 refugees over five years, with priority given to the elderly, the disabled, and victims of sexual violence and torture.
The call by the Liberal Democrats came as a sign of the party refocusing its election efforts on Labour voters in a move to oppose the Conservative party, which, according to Farron, made the UK people "meaner, narrower and less thoughtful about neighbors."
On April 18, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced her decision to hold an early parliamentary election at the start of June to overcome divisions in the parliament and succeed in the negotiations with the European Union on Brexit. According to recent polls, the ruling Conservative Party currently holds a 16-percent lead over the main opposition Labour Party, enjoying the support of 46 percent of potential voters. The projections for the Liberal Democrats stand at 11 percent.
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