MPs reject calls to take in unaccompanied refugee children as peers prepare fresh amendment

Peers will today press the UK Government to rethink its stance after MPs rejected a call for the UK to take in unaccompanied refugee children from Europe.

The Government voted down an amendment to the Immigration Bill, passed in the Lords, that called on ministers to resettle 3,000 children from the EU.

Five Conservatives – Geoffrey Cox, Tania Mathias, Stephen Phillips, Will Quince, and David Warburton – defied the Government’s stance to vote with Labour and the SNP in favour of the amendment. Others abstained on the vote, which passed with a majority of 18.

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The Government argues that taking in refugee children who have already reached Europe will encourage more families to send children on the dangerous trip.

Instead, it has pledged to prioritise orphans and unaccompanied children in the plans to resettle refugees from camps near to Syria.

However, Phillips argued that “exceptional times call for exceptional measures” and that the UK had a responsibility to help those in Europe.

The Immigration Bill now returns to the Lords, where Lord Dubs, the author of the first amendment who himself came to the UK as a child refugee from the Czech Republic on the kindertransport, will make another attempt to force the Government to take action.

The new amendment removes the reference to 3,000 children and replaces it with a “specified number” to be decided by the Government in consultation with local authorities.

Save the Children, the charity leading the calls for the UK to do more for refugee children in Europe, expressed dismay at the Commons decision.

“This problem isn’t going away, it is getting worse,” said Kirsty McNeill, the charity’s director of advocacy and campaigns. “The Government has not yet responded to the groundswell of public support and MPs of all parties who have called for the UK to offer safety to lone children in Europe.

“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.”

Yvette Cooper, who leads Labour’s refugee taskforce, said the outcome of the vote was “deeply disappointing”.

“Thousands of children are sleeping rough in Europe tonight, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse and Britain should not be turning its back,” she said.

If the new amendment is passed in the Lords today, the matter will return to the Commons for another vote.