Juliet Morton, ­Embank­ment Road, Kingsbridge, writes:

Two weeks ago, Gazette August 14, I read a sympathetic letter written about the refugees  fleeing their homes because where they lived was convulsed by war.  I was surprised to read a strong letter this last week, ‘Blighty afflicted by alien blight’, stridently saying ‘there is no room in the inn’ in this country.  I find I cannot agree with the writer of this letter for a number of reasons.  

Firstly, a personal one. During the Second World War my mother fled overseas, and sought refuge from the terrible destruction and killing. The only reason I was born alive was the kindness she met in answer to her need for a safe haven.  Has such fellow-feeling and compassion gone in this country?

You could argue that these people are economic migrants.

This is simply untrue for the vast majority of those desperate people who have managed to stay alive and reach Europe.

There is a legal right of asylum for those who survive fleeing countries torn apart by violence. Surely we have a moral right, as co-humans, to care for their welfare as well?  

We are not a ‘magnet’ for immigration. As a ‘developed country’, we have taken in and supported fewer refugees than other European countries. More refugees seek asylum in France, Germany, Sweden and Italy, and in proportion to our population we have fewer seeking safety here than Belgium, Holland and Austria.  

It is unlikely that refugees would have the change to consider the differences in benefits provided by different European countries, but if they did the UK’s are not high in comparison to others.

We and they are all humans. Who wouldn’t try to ensure at least one of a family stays alive? Who wouldn’t want their children to have a chance to grow up?  As a nation what are we becoming when we do not extend a hand of help towards those who have nothing, nothing at all?