MPs have rejected an amendment to the immigration bill, which compelled the government to offer sanctuary in the UK to 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees from Europe.
The move follows a Commons debate on Monday where cries of “shame” erupted following the vote, which saw the immigration bill rebuffed by 18 votes (294 to 276). Those against the move argued that offering sanctuary to lone children who had already reached Europe may mean more youngsters become subject to trafficking. However, this was dubbed as a “bogus” suggestion by Lib Dem leader Tim Farron.
Speaking about the bill before it was voted on Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, and chair of Christian Aid argued in The Guardian that the the UK had to take a lead in protecting unaccompanied minors in Europe. “Independent medical assessments have found that nearly half of all unaccompanied minors carry a sexually transmitted disease, testament to the terrible dangers they face along the way to Europe. Some will have died. In the past three months, two minors have died trying to reach their family members in the UK from Calais,” he wrote.
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