LOTS of cheap and nasty asylum stories have surfaced in some tabloids over the past few weeks.

They exaggerate the numbers coming to Britain. Then they say Britain is the only country accepting asylum seekers. But other EU countries are in exactly the same boat.

Recently, they attempted to link asylum with terrorism. Yet only 15 out of 80,000 applicants have been arrested as terrorist suspects. Asylum seekers are no more likely to be terrorists than anyone else.

The Government is already acting to stamp out abuse of the system. All applicants are photographed, fingerprinted and given ID cards, which are checked with other EU countries to prevent duplicate claims.

About 1,250 failed applicants are deported each month. The Government has also negotiated the closure of Sangatte and set up comprehensive immigration controls in Belgium, Holland and Northern France.

In the current furore, we should never forget that generations of legal migrants have brought this country huge benefits. Indeed, many vital public services would collapse without them.

Anyone who thinks there are easy solutions on asylum issue is doing the issue and this country a grave disservice. This is a very complicated Europe-wide problem that demands a Europe-wide solution. And solve it we must.

GARY TITLEY MEP.