UK is RACIST for not taking in more refugees, claims Emma Thompson

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Oscar-winning star said the UK's response to the crisis was 'shaming'
She insisted there was 'plenty of room' to accept thousands of refugees
Comes as pressure mounts on David Cameron to open the UK's borders

By Tom McTague, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline

Published: 10:57 EST, 3 September 2015 | Updated: 08:38 EST, 4 September 2015

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Britain is not taking its fair share of refugees from Europe because the public is racist, the Hollywood actress Emma Thompson has claimed.

The Oscar-winning star said the UK's response to the crisis was 'really shaming' and insisted there was 'plenty of room' to accept thousands of refugees.

Ms Thompson's intervention came amid mounting pressure on the government to provide sanctuary for more Syrian families fleeing to Europe.

Emma Thompson said Britain was not taking its fair share of refugees from Europe because of 'racism'

David Cameron today sought to quell growing public outrage over the humanitarian crisis by promising to 'fulfil our moral responsibilities'.

He said Britain would continue to accept 'thousands of people' as it always has done, but he promised to keep the numbers under review.

The PM blamed the 'terrible scenes' of two young Syrian brothers found washed up on a beach in Turkey on ISIS, criminal gangs and Syria's President Assad.

However, Ms Thompson said the government's response to the crisis was 'not good enough'.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis she added: 'We have to open our door to more refugees.

'The idea of 3,000 people in Calais who have been through unspeakable things makes me feel very ashamed.

'We're not even missing our quotas. That's really shaming. So I think it's got a lot to do with racism.

'If these people were white, European, that were coming from some dictatorship in Bosnia. If they were coming I think we would feel quite differently about it.'

David Cameron today sought to quell growing public outrage over the humanitarian crisis by promising to 'fulfil our moral responsibilities'

Under an emergency new plan, 160,000 refugees will be spread across the European Union - but Britain, Denmark and Ireland have opted out of the scheme

Ms Thompson said it was the 'mark of a civilised and humane society' to grant refuge to those in need.

She said: 'I would hope there were statesmen and women out there with the kind of sense of decency and common humanity who would find it possible and indeed incumbent on them to stand up and say we need to help these people.

'They are not just coming over here because they want an easy ride, they have been through hell.

'There's 3,000 of them in Calais. That's nothing. We've got plenty of room for them.'

Ms Thompson's remarks came as the EU drew up plans for most other countries to accept thousands more refugees from north Africa, Mr Cameron was accused of 'shaming the country' with his refusal to increase the UK's commitment.

Britain has opted out of UN and EU schemes that could mean accepting tens of thousands more asylum seekers, with the focus on spending aid money in the war torn countries from which people are fleeing.

Mr Cameron argues that opening the door to more refugees is not the answer to the crisis triggered by tens of thousands of people massing in Greece, Italy and Hungary.

Public calls for the UK to offer more help has mounted after harrowing images emerged of five-year-old Galip Kurdi and his brother Aylan, 3, who drowned after their dinghy capsized while attempting to cross from Syria to the Greek island of Kos.

Mr Cameron said he was 'deeply moved' by the pictures but refused to spell out plans for an increased offer of more refugee places.

The Prime Minister told reporters: 'Anyone who saw those pictures overnight could not help but be moved and, as a father, I felt deeply moved by the sight of that young boy on a beach in Turkey.

'Britain is a moral nation and we will fulfil our moral responsibilities.

'I would say the people responsible for these terrible scenes we see the people most responsible are President Assad in Syria and the butchers of ISIL and the criminal gangs who are running this terrible trade in people.'

Thousands of migrants attempted to board trains at Keleti Railway Station in Budapest today in a bid to make it west to Germany

Over 2,000 migrants, many of them refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, have been camped in front of the Keleti Railway Terminus

PUBLIC PETITION FORCES DEBATE ON TAKING MORE REFUGEES

More than 100,000 people have backed a petition calling for Britain to accept more refugees, triggering a debate in Parliament.

At one point five people per second were backing the e-petition, urging the government to 'accept more asylum seekers and increase support for refugee migrants in the UK'.

The petition adds: 'There is a global refugee crisis. The UK is not offering proportional asylum in comparison with European counterparts.

'We can't allow refugees who have risked their lives to escape horrendous conflict and violence to be left living in dire, unsafe and inhumane conditions in Europe. We must help.'

By 10.30am it had passed the 100,000 threshold for it to be considered for a debate in Parliament.

Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham called for MPs to debate whether the UK should take in more refugees when Parliament returns next week.

'David Cameron cannot continue to turn his back on the crisis. It is time for him to show leadership and restore Britain's reputation as a country that has always provided refuge to the vulnerable,' he said.

Asked why Britain won't take more refugees, Mr Cameron said: 'We are. We are taking thousands of refugees and we have always done that as a country – running our asylum system properly and giving a proper welcome to people and helping them when they come here.

'We keep it under review. We work with our partners. We are taking thousands of people and we will take thousands of people. What matters is when they come they get a proper welcome and we look after them.'

It comes after Mr Cameron has come under pressure from within the Conservative party, as well as political opponents, church leaders and foreign leaders to do more.

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond said Mr Cameron was 'shaming the country' over the crisis. He told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme: 'When people, human beings, see other human beings in distress, when we see pictures of young toddlers lying dead on a beach, then the natural human instinct is to help.

'David Cameron's natural instinct is to walk by on the other side and that's why he's shaming the country.'

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby today said the migrant emergency is a 'wicked crisis'.

He added: 'My heart is broken by the images and stories of men, women and children who have risked their lives to escape conflict, violence and persecution.'

Labour's acting leader Harriet Harman said it was 'deplorable' that the government was 'putting its head in the sand and showing itself to be heartless and out of touch'.

'We are all proud of Britain's historical role of offering a sanctuary to those fleeing conflict and persecution,' she wrote in a letter to the PM.

'We are an outward-facing, generous-hearted nation, not one that turns inward and shirks its responsibilities. I know you will not want to be the Prime Minister of a Government that fails to offer sanctuary while our neighbours are stepping up to respond.

'I strongly support the Government's continued aid for the refugee camps in the region and agree with you that we need much tougher action against people trafficking, but it is clear now that we also have a moral duty to act to take in more of these people and help them to rebuild their lives.'

Mr Cameron's remarks were echoed by Chancellor George Osborne, who said Britain had already taken in 5,000 asylum seekers fleeing the war in Syria and would 'go on taking people'. He added that Britain's closed-door refugee policy was 'under review'.

He said Britain would continue sending aid to the Middle East to help Syrian refugees trapped in camps.

The human cost: One thousand miles away, a policeman on a Turkish beach had to gently recover the bodies of two brothers drowned as their family tried to make their way to the Greek island of Kos yesterday

Devastating: The two boys' mother also drowned in one of the most harrowing episodes of the migrant crisis

He said: 'You have got to make sure the aid keeps coming – we put £1billion of overseas aid in to help these desperate people.'

But he added: 'Of course Britain has always been a home to real asylum seekers, genuine refugees. We have taken 5,000 people from the Syrian conflict.

'We will go on taking more and keep it under review. Britain has been playing a leading role and it will continue to do so.'