UK 'Can And Should' Take More Refugees

A Fife MP says Scotland, and the UK, 'can and should' accept more Syrian refugees.

Stephen Gethins has just returned from the Turkey, where he saw for himself the humanitarian efforts to support almost 2.5m refugees who have fled war-torn Syria in the last 4 years.

A number of leading udges and lawyers today criticised the UK Government's efforts on accepting refugees, calling its response 'slow and narrow'.

The Turkish Government expects the number of refugees in their country to double as the conflict continues to escalate.

Stephen Gethins MP said:
 
"The UK has to do more to meet the challenges posed by the worst Refugee crisis since the war. We rightly debate the issues surrounding the camp at Calais that holds 3,000. However according to the UNHCR here, five thousand people crossed the border from Syria to Turkey in a single hour following ISIL’s assault on the town of Kobane and 200,000 in total in a two week period. That gives us some perspective as to the scale of the challenge faced.
 
"We were grateful to meet with the Deputy Governor of Gaziantep Province, who was frustrated at the fact that although many delegations from across Europe have passed though this area, there is no evidence of a significant change in policy to better support these refugees or end the conflict."