BOLTON should be proud of its efforts to help refugees, business leaders were told at a networking lunch.

Speaking at the quarterly Bolton Professionals Curry Club, Baroness Trish Morris praised Bolton’s role as a “gateway town” for refugees fleeing Syria and other countries in the Middle East.

The peer, who is the trade envoy to Jordan, Kuwait and the Palestinian Territories, recounted her moving tales of visiting the refugee camp in Calais at the event at Spice Valley, Noble House.

Baroness Morris, who was the first Chancellor of the University of Bolton, said: “There is a lot of talk about whether we should be taking refugees and Bolton can hold its head high.

“We are a gateway town and do a great deal for people who are fleeing persecution, famine, and war.

“The UK as a whole can hold its head high too, because we spent more on helping refugees than most other countries do.

“What David Cameron said as Prime Minister and what Theresa May will continue with, is that what we should be doing is trying to find work in the Middle East for refugees so that they don’t have to make these perilous journeys.

“It is a hugely important job. I went to the refugee camp in Calais and it affected me physically and mentally.

“Almost to a man and woman, the people there said that if there was a message they had to others it would be to not make that journey.

“I met one man who was one of the 30 people who survived from a boat where 420 died. The only way he got to the shore was by holding onto a dead body and kicking his legs.”

As well as being a former vice chairman of the Conservatives, Baroness Morris is also president of Bolton Lads and Girls Club and the National Benevolent Institution.

She added: “Bolton has a reputation for being a welcoming town. It has given refuge to many people over many years and I think that when people meet refugees they realise that they are people just like them.

“You can’t just take everybody in, I’m fully aware of that. It’s easy to say that you should take people in, but if you do then you need to know that they are coming to a place where they will be safe. That is the least we owe to them.”