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		We can't cope with millions From the Rutland Times - July 1 2002. Britain's asylum system is in crisis. The cost to the Home Office of supporting the rising number of asylum seekers last year is officially estimated at £1,052 million by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). This is more than double the £403 million budgeted for by the department and the Home Secretary is expected to have to make an emergency hand out of up to £1 billion to meet the cost. What cuts will have to be made in other areas to pay for this enormous overspend? With £1 billion we hire an extra 30,000 policemen, nurses and doctors or run another 1,000 secondary schools. The cost is sure to rise with more and more asylum seekers coming through the tunnel every day. And now David Blunkett plans to open accommodation centres in rural parts of England including the East Midlands, each holding upto 750 people. These centres will not solve the asylum backlog and the last thing we need is another "Sangatte" disaster on our doorstep. Even if we could be sure who were genuine refugees, it may be that there are just too many to cope with. The UN estimates that there could be more than 23 million people in the world who could qualify as genuine refugees. It would he physically impossible to deal with such numbers. Of course we all want to be compassionate. If we found a starving child on our doorstep, we would feed it. If we found a dozen, we would do our best. But, we just can't cope with millions. I am prepared to support the government's proposal for a strictly limited immigration programme of qualified people needed by our economy - but only on the basis that we are absolutely rigorous with illegal immigrants and doubtful asylum seekers.