This week's MP's column comes from Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley

THE terrible situation in Ukraine and the horrendous scenes being broadcast around the world show the true devastation that Putin is causing.

Nobody could fail to have huge sympathy for those fleeing Ukraine and nobody would surely turn a blind eye and not want to help in any way they can.

Britain prides itself on providing emergency help to people around the world in humanitarian crises and that has rightly included taking in people into this country who are fleeing terrible atrocities.

However, there are two factors that have developed over the years that have limited our ability to help as much as people may want us to in these times of crisis. Firstly, instead of refugees being catered for on a temporary basis, they have ended up being given the right to stay here permanently regardless of whether their country of origin is safe to return to or not.

The second factor is that we have become a magnet for those who are not genuinely fleeing persecution or war, but put in a vexatious claim for asylum and play the system.

Those coming over from France by dinghy are a prime example of this. Instead of filtering these people out at the earliest opportunity - or even preferably refusing entry in the first place - we have been accommodating them at great cost.

As a result of all this, it is now much more difficult for us to cope with an influx of Ukrainians fleeing this war, and certainly an unlimited number as some people are calling for.

Ukraine has a population of over 40 million people so it is quite clear we cannot just make an open offer without having any idea how many people would want to come here. We cannot just say something simply to look compassionate if the reality of the situation is that we don’t have sufficient accommodation for people.

Also, what if the people of Moldova, Georgia or other Eastern European states that may become affected end up needing to seek refuge too – what are we going to do then?

In the Bradford district alone, there has already been an increase from 1,217 asylum seekers in March 2021 to 1,620 in February 2022 – up by a third in 11 months.

So where are the spare houses to accommodate these additional refugees? The evidence I have suggests that more and more asylum seekers are being housed in hotels.

The number in the Bradford area alone in hotels has increased threefold from 141 to 444 in the last year.

Many people have charitably offered to take in a refugee in their own home, and the government has now proposed a sponsorship scheme to facilitate this.

This is typical of the generosity of British people. However, even this is not a simple a process for governments. For example how long are people realistically going to be prepared to have a refugee living with them? It might work for a few months or even a year but, if the situation in Ukraine is no better at that stage, then what?

It is entirely possible that Ukraine may never be safe to return to and may be under Russian control forever.

We therefore have to presume that anyone who comes here will be here in perpetuity and plan accordingly.

For people to say that they will take in a Ukrainian refugee forever is a largely unrealistic commitment and the state therefore has to presume that at some point the responsibility will fall back on them.

The National Audit Office has estimated that the average cost of each individual asylum seeker for accommodation and support is £560 per month. A family of four refugees, therefore, costs the taxpayer £2,240 per month just for the basics and not counting all other costs.

Some people have rightly been critical of the process the Ukrainian refugees are having to go through to get here – which has been far too slow and shambolic - but we absolutely must have proper checks in place so we know who we are letting into our country.

Opening our doors to people fleeing the war is absolutely right, but letting in those who are nothing of the sort could be an absolute security disaster.

Not only would this deny a place for someone genuinely in need but it could also put people in this country at serious risk of harm.

If we have no checks in place there is no doubt that Russian agents, terrorists and criminal gangs would be posing as Ukrainian refugees to enter the country.

We cannot allow that to happen.

We also need to rapidly ensure we get a grip of our current illegal immigrant problem as I have said on many occasions.

Being a soft touch for illegal immigration and bogus asylum seekers is not compassionate - it just leaves us with less capacity to help those genuinely fleeing war and persecution like the people in Ukraine who are suffering an unbearable horror.