We have all been deeply moved by the horrific and tragic images of refugees seeking to flee their own countries and get into Europe. This was most starkly illustrated by the front page images of three year old Aylan Kurdi who drowned after the boat he and his family were on capsized off the coast of Turkey. The images are truly shocking and extremely upsetting.

Great Britain has a well-deserved reputation for welcoming people in distress, and providing a place of safety and security. The Prime Minister is right that we have a moral responsibility to help those displaced by the ongoing conflict in Syria, and I am glad that the UK is to provide resettlement to thousands more Syrian refugees. These refugees will come from camps bordering Syria, to discourage people from making the dangerous journey to Europe.

Meanwhile, we must continue our efforts to help Syrians in their home country. It is the so-called ‘Islamic State’ who are fundamentally to blame for this disastrous situation. Only by defeating them and building a level of stability in the region can we truly tackle the root cause of this crisis.

Additionally, we continue to be at the forefront of the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria – including as the second biggest bilateral donor of humanitarian aid, having already pledged £900 million. The figure of 216 Syrian migrants is a misleading one, based only on a single scheme designed to help relieve the crisis. Indeed, the UK has accepted almost 4,000 asylum seekers from Syria alone in recent years. This represents 87% of Syrians who applied for asylum in that period.

The problem is, however, far more complicated than simply accepting more migrants into the UK and we must clearly distinguish between economic migrants and genuine refugees – they must be treated separately. 

For many of the economic migrants, gangs are profiting from the misery of their fellow humans, selling them false promises before loading them on to dangerous vessels and sending them, in many cases, to their deaths. We cannot do anything which encourages more people to make these perilous journeys – or which makes it easier for the gangs responsible for their misery. There needs to be a long-term solution to these very complicated problems and simply accepting more and more migrants into the UK will not solve the root of the problem.

While we do all that is necessary to help those requiring asylum, it would be wrong if people seeking mainly economic migration were to benefit from the humanitarian efforts directed at those fleeing war and persecution. I am sure that, given the choice, most of these people would rather stay safely in their own country. 

Therefore, globally, we must do more to ensure that those regions are made safe and that we help enough people to remain in their own country to enable the rebuilding of these places. If we drain the countries of their young and vibrant populous, we create even more problems for those left behind.