A significant increase in the numbers of people seeking accommodation means that arrivals to the transit hub have been paused and the Ukrainian embassy has been told that there is a major constraint on capacity into next week and possibly beyond. Priority will be given to vulnerable people, women, and children.

Naturally, advocates for refugees and asylum seekers, protest saying that it is “predictable” that accommodation would run out and that the response is “not good enough”. Government departments are being urged to fulfil their international responsibilities.

But the Government is in a bind. It does not have enough available property as has been made clear in the domestic housing crisis and debate justifying the winter evictions ban. Short of commandeering sports grounds and military premises and turning them into tented cities there are few, if any, remaining options.

We warned at the start of summer that the supervision of displaced persons is a challenge across Europe for citizens and political leaders trying to balance their spirit of generosity, or humanity, with recognition of the practicalities and the attendant costs upon already-faltering economies.

The laws governing asylum and the status of refugees were enabled in 1951. They will not survive a combination of Putin’s continuing war on Ukraine, the exploitation of their loopholes by criminal gangs, climate change-related displacement, and the other crises of the 21st century.