REFUGEES seeking asylum in the UK should be given a home in Stroud, local Green Party members have said.

They said that Stroud could take in 10 people or three families to take on its fair share of the approximately 40,000 refugees which the EU needs to settle over the next two years.

Their comments came in an open letter which calls for the UK government to do more to help evenly distribute migrants entering the EU.

The Green members who penned the letter are Molly Scott Cato, an MEP for the South West, mayor of Stroud Kevin Cranston, county councillor Sarah Lunnon, and Martin Whiteside and John Marjoram, the leader and deputy leader of the party on Stroud District Council.

“While many of us watch with horror the plight of refugees fleeing war and braving horrendous experiences on their journey to safety, our government seems content to do everything it can to avoid providing its share of actual help,” they said.

“They prefer to spend money on more barbed wire and police to keep refugees out, rather than working with the EU and UN to provide refuge for a fair share of people.

“David Cameron has refused to even participate in the EU’s plan to re-settle 40,000 of the most vulnerable and referred to the 3,000 living in atrocious conditions in Calais as a ‘swarm’.

“We need to change the rhetoric – we are dealing with other humans and we should welcome our responsibility as the eighth richest country on the planet to help, rather than add to their suffering.”

The letter also attacked extortionate landlords and a lack of financial support for asylum seekers, which they argue has created “a "climate of destitution and fear”.

Their comments came as Germany and France increased pressure on Britain and other EU states to take in more asylum seekers, amid what has been described as the worst migrant crisis since the Second World War.

The UK is currently exempt from the EU refugee agreement and has accepted only 5,955 people in the first quarter of this year, according to figures from the Refugee Council.

Germany currently takes by far the most migrants of any EU member state, and expects to host 800,000 this year.

A record 107,000 migrants crossed the EU’s borders last month, according to Frontex, the EU border agency, the majority of which are refugees fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Martin Whiteside added that he was preparing to put a motion before Stroud District Council in October and was hoping for cross-party support.