THE intention of the government to welcome 20,000 refugees over five years (the same number, incidentally, which Germany welcomed last weekend alone) is seen by many as overly-cautious and inadequate, especially when taken together with the fact that the refugees helped will not be those desperate people in Europe who are currently the subjects of the EU Allocation scheme, but in fact refugees from the camps in the Lebanon and Jordan.

I will be writing to our MP to express my views.

However, we are where we are.

In the circumstances, I would urge our local authorities to comply enthusiastically and generously with any government requests to participate in this new scheme so that – as a community – we at least do what little we can, to help these very unfortunate people.

Mrs Croney’s rather guarded words on behalf of NDDC that ‘we are waiting to hear from the government to see if we will be called upon’ contrast rather starkly with Councillor Anthony Alford’s statement that WDDC will ‘support this and will co-operate and accept our share of refugee numbers.’ Let us hope that it is Councillor Alford’s approach which will finally prevail in Dorset, in the name of our natural decency and our common humanity with the suffering refugees.

The extremely generous communities of Dorset would not, in my view, be properly represented by a lukewarm response from our local authorities.

Hugo Mieville

Liberal Democrat

PPC North Dorset