FEW can fail to have been stunned by the appalling devastation in Beirut, shattered by a colossal explosion in the port area of the city.

It is one of the outcomes of social media that we can see extensive film of the explosion itself and the aftermath.

Coming on the back of the Covid-19 problems faced in Lebanon, the devastation merely adds to what was already the extraordinary strain local public and health services.

The international response is still to be established, and at the time of writing, the UK is yet to announce what we will be doing.

But it is one of the UK’s greatest achievements that we are a world leader in meeting our responsibility as a first world nation to help those across the globe who need help.

We are already helping extensively with refugee camps in Lebanon and neighbouring Syria, tackling the man-made crisis of the Syrian civil war.

Indeed, after the US, we do more than any other country and as a proportion of our national wealth, our commitment to the Syrian crisis is second to none.

I know this is not without controversy, as I receive regular emails from constituents concerned that charity is not beginning at home.

Our international aid budget is just a fraction our national expenses, and tiny compared to our health budget, or our work and pensions, education etc.

Recently, this has come to the fore again, with recent commentary in the press about asylum seekers being put up in a hotel in Bromsgrove, and a daily tally of those crossing the channel.

But it is worth remembering that the global rules based order – something that we are both the authors of, and enthusiastic to uphold – is clear on all these points.

Refugees are only classified as such until they reach their first point of sanctuary. Onward travel from a refugee camp defines them as economic migrants and thus subject to all our immigration rules.

However, asylum seekers have different rights and once in the UK and claiming asylum, have a right to have their claim heard. And we need to accommodate them.

There is no doubt that some game the system, claiming asylum without a legitimate case, or destroying documentation to make themselves stateless, so our responsibility.

This is why we have a co-ordinated, global approach to refugees, and international development. Everyone is far better off in their own, safe and prosperous, home.