Dismore speaks up for child refugees
Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore AM today backed a motion at the London Assembly plenary, against the Conservative Government ’s decision to end the ‘Dubs amendment’ scheme to bring unaccompanied child refugees to Britain. (See clip of my speech here)
Mr Dismore said:
‘The Government say they will now accept only 350 unaccompanied refugee children well short of the 3,000 Parliament and the country were led to expect would be accepted
‘In fact, we have only taken so far about 200 set against the maximum cap set by the Home Secretary of 350.
‘I am pleased to say that Camden has taken 10 ‘Calais’ children and supports 42 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children ; and Barnet has provided a home to 9 ‘Calais’ children and supports 51 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children.
‘Even worse, the Home Office has also said it is ending the separate accelerated arrangement to bring in unaccompanied refugee children who have family links in the UK under the Dublin Convention.
‘It is ludicrous for the Home Secretary to say that the scheme ‘incentivised’ children into making these perilous journeys, when already there are thousands of children in Greece, Italy and France in overcrowded accommodation centres and camps or are sleeping rough, homeless
‘Not a single child so far has come to the UK from Greece or Italy under the Dubs scheme but many are eligible; and all are at risk in their current dire circumstances, vulnerable to all kinds of abuse, the prostitution rings, in a return into modern slavery.
‘50 children a day are heading back to Calais anyway, despite the clearance of the camps, and the efforts of the French authorities to deny then even the basics of life like food, by preventing charities from distributing food and other help.
‘People traffickers and exploitation gangs see them as the easy target they are.
‘The ending of the scheme will not stop unaccompanied child refugees, it will just stop them coming legally and crucially, safely, to the safe haven that is Britain.
‘On Thursday, MPs voted in a non-binding vote 254-1 in favour of keeping open the Dubs scheme and called on the government to continue consulting local authorities over their capacity to take more child refugees.
‘The irony is that local authorities have said that they actually have the capacity to take more child refugees- their evidence to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee was that a further 4,000 places might be available if additional funding was provided. However, an amendment in Parliament yesterday to merely get the Government to ask councils about their capacity to take unaccompanied children was voted down by the Government.
‘Protecting and caring for child refugees has been and must remain a British value, from the Ninos, the 4,000 Basque children who came as unaccompanied refugees to Britain from the Spanish Civil War; to the Kindertransport, when we gave sanctuary to 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Free City of Danzig: and now the Dubs amendment, originally intended to be 3,000 children, far less than those earlier humanitarian efforts, yet too many for this Conservative Government.
‘If the Government does not even now, reconsider, this cruel and heartless decision, some of the most helpless children in the world will pay a heavy price for their shrugging of the shoulders indifference to their plight.
Note to editors:
The Motion was passed by the Assembly, with all parties voting for it, except UKIP whose two members voted against.
Text of motion
“This Assembly regrets the Government’s decision to withdraw from its commitment to the Dubs Amendment. We are disappointed that only 750 unaccompanied children, of the 3,000 stipulated in the original amendment, have so far been resettled in the UK and we want the Government to reverse their decision and stand by the Dubs Amendment
