Abstract

This facet examines debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords of the UK Parliament that concerned refugees and asylum seekers, and that took place between April 2013 and March 2017. The major topic of debate during this period was Britain’s role with regard to the huge number of refugees who had fled the war in Syria. A framework from political rhetoric and discourse analysis is used to analyse the debates. It is found that a surprisingly large number of references are made to the past: references to Britain’s ‘proud tradition’ and to earlier groups of refugees who came to Britain, parliamentarians’ self-references and mentions of legacy. The memory references play an integral role in parliamentarians’ argumentation when important matters are at stake.

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