August 13: The migrants crisis and why we cannot ignore genuine suffering of others

I WAS appalled to read this week that Philip Hammond, our Foreign Secretary, believes that Europeans can’t preserve their standards of living if we have to ‘absorb millions of migrants from Africa’.

If we in Europe have good living standards when compared to many parts of the world, it is at least in part because Europe has acquired and kept a disproportionate amount of the world’s resources.

No one is suggesting an open door policy of just allowing anyone to come to Europe without proper checks, and most commentators recognise Mr Hammond’s ‘millions’ as just scaremongering.

But there is a place for compassion and moving away from a ‘Little Britain’ mentality that seeks to hold on to what we have and to ignore the genuine suffering of others.

We in Yorkshire have a deserved reputation for hospitality. We should not accept the Foreign Secretary’s exhortation to protect our standard of living by keeping this good fortune to ourselves.

We are a people who want to share what we have with those who genuinely have been forced out of their homes and communities by violence, persecution and greed.