Speaking at the South West Conservatives European Conference at Somerset County Cricket Club earlier today, The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP, former Secretary of State for Defence said:
“That the international community needed to deal with the cause of the refugee crisis not merely its symptoms. These poor people are caught between the barbarity of the Assad regime and the depravity of ISIS. The PM has rightly identified as a huge threat to regional, and Britain's, security yet our response is inadequate. The policy of attacking ISIS in Iraq but not in Syria is patently absurd which not only makes us less effective militarily but diminishes us in the eyes of other partners in the coalition. If we have identified a threat to our national security, we have a duty to deal with it. We also need to start a process, as part of an international response to the crisis, to create a safe haven for the Syrian people, including an enforced no fly zone, where they can live safely within their own country and stop having to risk their lives trying to get their families to a place of safety. Handwringing about the tragedy of the refugees is not enough. It is time that action was taken to deal with the root of the problem”