Naz Shah calls for UK to take more Afghan refugees as desperate parents throw babies over barbed wire at Kabul compound

Shah, who has been Labour MP for Bradford West since 2015, became a foster parent to a teenage Afghanistan refugee before her move into politics and provided two other Afghan refugees with support lodgings.

She said the Government was wrong to be setting limits on numbers when the scale of the crisis in the nation of 39 million people is yet to become fully clear.

“This isn’t about numbers, these are people. Of course we have to talk about infrastructure costs but Britain is one of the richest countries in the world.

“It is premature to talk about numbers - we need to work out what the need is.”

Her comments came after the Government announced the UK will accept 5,000 people looking to exit Afghanistan in the next 12 months and eventually welcome 20,000. Downing Street has said the Government will encourage allies to match the commitment.

Shah said the Government was not going far enough, with the British military reporting desperate families in Kabul have been throwing babies over barbed wire into the compound dealing with the UK airlift operation.

An unnamed senior officer at the compound told Sky News: "It was terrible, women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking the soldiers to take them, some got caught in the wire. I'm worried for my men, I'm counselling some, everyone cried last night."

Shah said: “It is like something out of a horror film but this isn’t a movie, this is real life. These are the choices that parents are making to give their children a fighting chance.

“This isn’t about people just wanting to come to the UK - this is about people feeling utterly desperate. If you are prepared to throw your baby over barbed wire to give them a chance to live, no one can say that is about 'I want to them to go to a Western country'."

She said her foster son came to live with her family when he was 14 in 2009 and is now living and working in London with his own family after being able to build a life in the UK.

Shah said Britain had a responsibility to help others like him in Afghanistan.

"If we don't step in now and take responsibility, this is going to unravel and turn much worse."

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister set out the UK’s significant offer to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan – doubling our humanitarian aid to the region and establishing one of the most generous asylum schemes in British history.

“He also outlined the UK’s broader strategy for Afghanistan and the region, including the need to unite the international community behind a clear plan for dealing with the Taliban regime in a unified and concerted way.

“We are now asking our international partners to match the UK’s commitments and work with us to offer a lifeline to Afghanistan’s most vulnerable people.”

Boris Johnson, in his update to a recalled Parliament on Wednesday, said the Government had so far secured the safe return of 306 UK nationals and 2,052 Afghans during its repatriation efforts.

A further 2,000 Afghan applications have been completed and many more are being processed as the British ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, said Foreign Office personnel were hoping to get “at least” 1,000 people out of the country every day.

The Prime Minister, who has spoken with US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days, continued his efforts to bring the G7 together on its Afghanistan position during talks with his Italian counterpart on Wednesday.

Downing Street said Mr Johnson explained his “five-point proposal” to Italian prime minister Mario Draghi about how he envisaged the international community could “support the people of Afghanistan and contribute to regional stability”.

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