Let child refugees into the United Kingdom, pleads Birmingham MP

A leading Conservative rebel against Downing Street’s refusal to accept child refugees from Europe has written to colleagues urging them to defy the whip next week if the government will not back down.

A vote in the House of Commons on Monday night saw the Conservative government defeat the suggestion by a majority of only 18 votes.

Only Fiona Mactaggart, the labour MP for Slough, voted against removing the amendment welcoming the 3,000 refugee children. He is not being lured by the attraction of an amendment passed here.

Those in favour of the amendment aimed strong words at the MPs who voted with the Government.

Home office minister Earl Howe said the government was already fulfilling its duty to help those in need and pointed to aid given to Syria and as well as the extra 3,000 children the government has promised to take from camps in the Middle East.

The cruel truth for most of those children is that the best chance they have of reaching their families is by risking their lives attempting to enter the United Kingdom by boat, train or truck.

She said Norfolk had more than 1,000 children who were in care and who needed good homes.

10,000 children have disappeared in Europe.

Martha Mackenzie, the senior government adviser for Save the Children, said: “We feel very optimistic that the new amendment, when it goes back to the Commons, has a chance of being accepted”.

Sir Keir said children who had already come to Europe should not be abandoned.

The government has opposed the plan, spearheaded by Labour peer Alf Dubs, citing fears it will encourage more refugees to make the unsafe journey from Syria and other conflict zones.

But MPs voted against the amendment by 294 to 276.

James Brokenshire, the Minister for Security and Immigration, told MPs that the government “wholeheartedly shares” the desire to protect unaccompanied children.

“As this legislation returns to the House of Lords, parliament still has a chance to live up to Britain’s proud history of reaching out a hand to the most vulnerable children who need our help”.

‘In any response we need to be careful not to inadvertently create a situation in which families see an advantage in sending children ahead, alone and in the hands of traffickers, putting their lives at risk by attempting treacherous sea crossings to Europe’.

“We must ask ourselves: how are we to provide a supportive, protective and caring environment for these children if we can not already find enough foster homes and enough long-term homes for those children?”

“Surely in the humane civilised country we claim to be we agree these children are innocent and vulnerable and are as entitled to safety, security, education and a quality of life, as much as our own children”.

Lord Dubs was close friends with the “British Schindler” Nicholas Winton, who saved him alongside 668 other Czech children from the Nazis.