As Rob Williams, chief executive of War Child UK, estimated:

“Caring for the basic needs of a refugee in Europe costs at least ten times as much as in countries neighbouring Syria.”

In 2016, the House of Commons International Development Committee praised the UK Government’s response, as it discourages refugees from risking their lives on long perilous journeys into Europe, sometimes on unseaworthy boats and often at the mercy of human traffickers. We hear almost daily, if not weekly, about tragedies in the Mediterranean and we must recognise the UK Government’s attempt to find an alternative system that provides refugees with safer and more secure passage to Britain.