A VETERAN Conservative is “glad everyone has woken up to the terrors and horrors” of the Syrian refugee crisis.

There was an outcry yesterday as pictures of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach hit the front pages and news networks across the country.

Nationally thousands of people called for the government to do more to support the ongoing refugee crisis as people pour out of Syria daily seeking sanctuary in Europe.

But Sir Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West, defended the Government’s record over the migrant crisis but insisted “there is much more we have to do and clearly there is more we will do”.

He said the country has already taken more refugees than Germany and “I think now people understand why I have been so concerned with refugees and civil wars for the past forty years”.

He also said “I wish more people had woken up when the surgeon David Nott started reporting the effects of President Assad’s barrel bombs”.

A petition calling on the UK to take a “proportional share” of refugees reached more than 100,000 signatures in less than 24-hours.

Maria Caulfield, MP for Lewes, said the image of the toddler dead on the beach was "very distressing" but insisted "Britain has always been a welcoming home to real asylum seekers, genuine refugees and people fleeing persecution."

Britain has exercised its opt-out from the EU's Schengen open borders system to avoid being included in proposals that could see 160,000 asylum seekers re-distributed from Hungary, Italy and Greece.

If the UK agreed to participate, around 30,000 people could have been in line for resettlement based on the figures mooted for similarly sized countries.

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said more needs to be done to help "Syrians at the source" and added "before everyone beats up on the UK on the refugee crisis remember we are doing more than all EU countries on the ground".

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman said the flow of people was now the "worst humanitarian crisis to reach European shores since the Second World War".

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “Britain can and must do more – it’s time for the Government to wake up to the cruelty of its current stance and give many more refugees the chance to settle here."

Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove, said: "Britain must work with our European partners to have a coordinated response and we as a nation must be unrelenting in supporting people fleeing the Syrian war on our own shores until they are able to return home and begin rebuilding their devastated communities. To date we have not done nearly enough.

"We are a nation that is made strong by our values. These values are being tested now and we must not fail."

See pages 4 and 5 for today's Spotlight on the refugee crisis.