THE UK Government has defended its response to the Syrian refugee crisis after scores of church leaders branded it “increasingly inadequate” and called for Whitehall to do its "moral duty" by taking in at least 50,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.
The Church of England released a letter, signed by 84 bishops, which was sent to David Cameron in September, urging him to make a "meaningful and substantial response to the scale of human suffering we see daily".
Amid mounting public pressure to strengthen Britain's response to the migrant crisis on Europe's borders, the Government pledged to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.
But the bishops told the Prime Minister in the letter: "We believe such is this country's great tradition of sanctuary and generosity of spirit that we could feasibly resettle at least 10,000 people a year for the next two years, rising to a minimum of 50,000 in total over the five-year period you foresaw in your announcement.
"Such a number would bring us into line with comparable commitments made by other countries. It would be a meaningful and substantial response to the scale of human suffering we see daily."
Speaking on their behalf, the Right Reverend Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham, argued that the crisis was a “time of opportunity for us as a country and for our wider continent...to rise above narrow self-interest, however defined, and to embrace the highest parts of our humanity”.
Alex Salmond, the former First Minister and now the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, also decried the Government's response, saying: "It is obviously inadequate in terms of numbers but it is also this idea that you can ignore the refugees who have arrived in Europe; that's not tenable. It's not tenable because the countries, which are closest on proximity, can't bear that pressure alone. You have to act in terms of solidarity."
But Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said: "No country in Europe is doing more in Syria than we are. We are spending a billion pounds helping the refugees in the refugee camps in Syria and now we have announced that we will take 20,000 - 5000 a year for the rest of this Parliament."
Meanwhile, the crisis deepened with the deaths of five people, including a baby and two children, as migrants attempted to reach Greece from Turkey. Eleven migrants off the Kastellorizo island.
In Croatia, around 5,000 migrants were waiting in a holding camp to enter Slovenia
The eastern European country is only taking in limited numbers of people per day slowing down the flow of people toward Western Europe.
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