News Digest

British PM Cameron visits refugee camp in Lebanon as migrant crisis deepens

The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has visited a refugee camp on the border with Syria to see the impact of the humanitarian crisis “at source”. Mr Cameron visited a UN operated camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, home to 500 people in 90 tents including many children. He met a vulnerable family due to be resettled to the UK as part of a commitment by the Government last week to take 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. His visit coincides with a EU meeting scheduled to take place to discuss the worsening migrant crisis in Europe.

I wanted to come here to see for myself and to hear for myself stories of refugees and what they need.

David Cameron

Britain is already the second largest donor to refugee camps, to this whole crisis, really helping in a way that many other countries aren’t with serious amounts of money. The UK is expanding programmes to accept vulnerable displaced people from camps in the region but will not join in the EU effort to disperse arrivals in Greece, Italy and Hungary. Germany yesterday reinstated border controls with Austria in an effort to stem the influx of migrants flooding into the country. Some 14,000 arrived at Munich train station over the weekend.

Twenty thousand people we are taking, I want that to be done well, I want it to be something the whole country can be proud of and I wanted to come here today to hear their stories for myself.

David Cameron