EU migrant crisis: Prime Minister David Cameron adds £100m of aid funding to help Syrian refugee camps
Amid growing pressure from fellow politicians and the public, David Cameron has announced an extra £100m of aid to fund refugee camps for those fleeing the Syrian war.
At a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Cameron said “Britain will act with head and heart”, taking total UK spending to £1bn.
We were the first to send the Navy to the Mediterranean to save lives. We are doing far more than any other European country to fund the refugee camps and we have allowed Syrian refugees to enter our country and we will continue to do so.
I want to send the message that the best way to get a new life is not to make this perilous journey and put your lives at risk. That is why when taking additional refugees we want to work with NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and take them directly from refugee camps.
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The Prime Minister also said the total contribution is now the UK’s largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis, with the UK the second largest bilateral donor of aid to the Syrian conflict.
This comes after Cameron announced earlier today the UK will take “thousands” more refugees.
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The Prime Minister had come under increasing pressure from political parties, including his own, both in the UK and internationally this week after having said the UK taking more refugees will not solve the crisis.
On whether the UK had been too slow on the crisis, Cameron said the UK was swift to direct its aid budget towards the problem and get the Navy into the Mediterranean.
Yesterday the French President François Holland said some countries were not doing enough, while Cameron said during the press conference today that there was “a lot more to do to bring Europe together and solve the problems”.