Only now does Angela Merkel concede that she made mistakes when admitting a million refugees last year. It was obvious to most people in Europe at the time that her undoubtedly warm-hearted gesture would lead to catastrophic results. In declaring that all Syrian refugees would be welcome if they made it to Germany, she doubled the fortunes of the human trafficking industry. The asylum seekers came from Syria and North Africa through Austria and Hungary, having landed on the shores of Italy and Greece. Thousands died on the way.
When Theresa May addressed the United Nations in New York yesterday, she was able to point to a British way of handling the crisis. Rather than reward those with the strength or money to make it to a western country, Britain has ploughed hundreds of millions of pounds into giving food, shelter and support to far more refugees in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
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