NORTH Wiltshire’s MP, James Gray, has come out in support for humanitarian help in the current refugee crisis, however has warned against the potential problems a large intake of people could have on the region.

“I very much welcome the Prime Minister's statement that we need to act with head and heart to help those most in need,” he said. “I’m glad we’re doing our bit.”

“My own view is that we must try to differentiate between economic migrants and genuine political asylum seekers like the Afghan interpreters; and the millions of refugees displaced from their homes and their homelands by warfare and persecution.

“I am also delighted that Britain has already provided over £900million in aid for those fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. This is more than any other European country. But there isn't a solution to this problem that is simply about taking people.

“Simply throwing open our doors, as some have suggested we should do out of compassion, would solve really very little.

“So we must be compassionate; we must find a way to help these poor people whose lives have been destroyed by warfare at home; we must give political asylum to true asylum seekers, but we must filter out the fakes and economic migrants, and violent terrorists who may well be hiding amongst them.

“I’m opposed to what Germany is doing. Taking 800,000 from wherever it might be.

“It will encourage human traffickers to do their business; incentivising the smugglers to carry out their brutal trade.

“We are right to do our bit, Britain has long traditional of that, but what do you do with them?
“They have got to have homes, jobs and schools for their children.

“I’m sensitive to those people who say, our schools, such as Malmesbury Primary School, is full at the moment. Schools and doctors surgery are full and we do not have any spare housing.

“My responsibility is to the people of north Wiltshire who are currently here.

“Playing the numbers game with refugees is just wrong. We have to consider who deserves to come and what to do with them when they get here.

“It should be a humanitarian issue, not a political one.”