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David Cameron announces concessions on Syrian child refugees David Cameron announces concessions on Syrian child refugees
(35 minutes later)
David Cameron has said his government will not stand in the way of an amendment by Lord Dubs paving the way for the UK to take unaccompanied refugee children who have already arrived in Europe. David Cameron has said his government will not stand in the way of an amendment by a Labour peer that paves the way for the UK to provide homes to unaccompanied refugee children who have already arrived in Europe.
The prime minister gave credit to the Labour peer, who was a refugee himself as part of the kindertransport, and said he would accept it now that it no longer included the figure of 3,000 children. The prime minister’s climbdown came in the face of a growing rebellion among Conservative MPs who were preparing to back the call by Lord Dubs, who was himself a refugee who came to Britain as part of the Kindertransport.
“It won’t be necessary to send the Dubs amendment back, it doesn’t mention a number of people. We are going to speak to local authorities to see what we can do,” Cameron told MPs. Cameron paid tribute to Dubs, whose original call was for the government to take 3,000 unaccompanied children from camps within Europe. The peer resubmitted the amendment without the figure included, after his first attempt was voted down by Conservative MPs.
However, he said he wanted to stick to the principle that Britain would not take in new children arriving in Europe because he believed that it could act as a “pull factor”, and argued that other European countries ought to be safe places. “No country has done more than Britain to help when it comes to Syrian refugees,” Cameron told MPs.
Cameron said the government was in discussion with the charity Save the Children about what more Britain can do to help unaccompanied child refugees. “But I do want us to proceed with as much support across the house as I can. I think it is right to stick to the principle that we shouldn’t be encouraging people to make this dangerous journey. I think it is right to stick to the idea that we invest in the refugee camps in the neigbouring countries.”
He told MPs that he wanted to proceed with “as much support across the House” as possible on the issue. But he said that he was willing to speed up taking child migrants with family links in the UK, and do more for children who arrived in the UK ahead of a deal between the EU and Turkey.
“It won’t be necessary to send the Dubs amendment back ... the amendment doesn’t mention a number of people. We are going to go round the local authorities to see what we can do,” said Cameron.
But he insisted that he wanted the UK to stick to the principle that the priority was to take children from camps in the region from which they were fleeing. He said that “housing them, clothing them, feeding them” was today’s equivalent of the Kindertransport, and not taking children from European countries that ought to already to be a safe haven.
The intervention was immediately welcomed by the SNP’s Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, while a key Tory MP who was minded to vote with Dubs, Heidi Allen, tweeted her support.
Dubs also said he was pleased that Cameron was taking steps to “ease the plight of some of the unaccompanied child refugees in Europe”.
He added: “I trust the prime minister will be true to his word and move swiftly to ensure the Home Office works closely with local authorities to find foster families to give these young people a stable and secure home.”
The first attempt to get Britain to take 3,000 child refugees from the EU was blocked in a Commons vote last Monday by a majority of 18. But a group of up to 30 Conservative MPs said they were ready to back the reworded amendment to the immigration bill next week.
The Home Office minister James Brokenshire is due to meet the Tory rebels on Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to reach a deal to avert a government defeat.
Allen, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, abstained in last week’s vote but said she and others would defy the party whip if concessions were not offered.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether she and others would rebel if the government did not back down, Allen said: “Absolutely, 100%.”
She criticised Cameron’s claim that child refugees were out of danger once they reached Europe. She said: “The prime minister mentioned in PMQs last week ‘relative safety in Europe’. It is not relatively safe to be pulled into trafficking and prostitution. Talk to the doctors – Médecins Sans Frontières – they are literally stitching up children on a daily basis and sending them back to the camps. So these children are not safe at all and they need our help.”
Allen pointed out that at the last count 150 unaccompanied children at the makeshift “Jungle” refugee camp near Calais had relatives in the UK.
She said: “If we can establish where those children are and who they are, then the magical number of 3,000 almost becomes academic. It is about finding those who have the right to be here.”
Former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, who chairs Labour’s refugee task force, said ministers had shifted position because they feared a Commons defeat.
“We need to see real action to help child refugees who are at risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking within Europe,” she said. “So far, ministers have only ever announced increased support when under serious political pressure – we will keep this up until next week’s vote.”