Merkel offering ‘false hope’ to refugees, says top Tory MEP

'False hope': German Chancellor Angela Merkel
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A senior Conservative today accused Angela Merkel of offering “false hope” to millions of potential refugees with her open-door policy on migration.

Ashley Fox, leader of Britain’s Conservative MEPs, also claimed the German Chancellor’s stance was fuelling the human-trafficking trade.

He argued that she had “got it profoundly wrong” with her policy, which could see up to 1.5 million asylum seekers arriving in Germany this year. Hundreds of thousands more are trying to reach other EU countries.

Many of them have fled war-zones such as Syria and thousands have died crossing the Mediterranean. But Mr Fox warned that there were “deep tensions” in communities across Germany into which large numbers of migrants were settling, as well as in countries such as Austria and Slovenia.

“The policies pursued by Merkel are offering false hope to potential migrants, as well as providing a lucrative income for the people involved in the evil business of people trafficking,” he told website ConservativeHome.

Mr Fox called for EU borders to be strengthened, for migrants to be processed in the first country they reach, and for more help for countries near Syria such as Lebanon and Turkey.

Berlin, UN human rights chiefs and Labour have criticised David Cameron for refusing to offer a safe haven in Britain for some of the migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean.

The UK is focusing on supporting refugee camps in the Syrian region, giving more than £1 billion in aid for the camps already and taking 20,000 vulnerable people from them.

Britain has also refused to allow around 120 migrants who landed at a British military base in Cyprus to leave, telling them they must claim asylum in Cyprus under EU rules or be returned to the last country they were in.

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