Government votes down bill change to bring 3,000 child refugees to UK

The UK government has voted down a bill that would have forced it to accept 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees into the UK from Europe.

The "Dubs amendment" - introduced by the opposition Labour Party - to the Immigration Bill, was struck down by 294 to 276.

Conservative critics of the amendment said that offering asylum to minors who have already reached Europe could lead to more child refugees trekking across the continent vulnerable to human traffickers.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron brushed off that claim as “bogus”.

The UK government said last week the country would accept up to 3,000 Syrian refugees, mostly vulnerable children, by 2020.

Rights groups, such as Save the Children, have called for the UK to bring in 3,000 child refugees already in Europe.

Supporters of the amendment, including Conservative MP Stephen Phillips, who spoke passionately for the change, said, "exceptional times call for exceptional measures".

"These children are already in Europe. They are alone, far from their families, they are cold, frightened, hungry, frequently without help or access to those who might help or protect them," he added.

The refugee taskforce chairwoman for the Labour Party, Yvette Cooper, said the government has forced the problem onto other countries, like Greece, which is already overburdened with refugees.

According to a BBC report, James Brokenshire, the Minister for Security and Immigration, told MPs that the government "wholeheartedly shares" the desire to protect unaccompanied children.

But he added that the amendment could risk families choosing to send children abroad alone and into the hands of traffickers.

"Our starting principle is that we must put the best interests of children first and avoid any policy that places children at additional risk or encourages them to place their lives in the hands of people traffickers and criminal gangs,” he said.

"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."

However Labour's shadow immigration minister Keir Starmer said: “What it boils down to is to say we must abandon these children to their fate, lest if we do anything, others may follow in their footsteps. I am not prepared to take that position.”

Labour is set to table a new proposal in the House of Lords on Tuesday to continue its attempt to force the government to accept unaccompanied minors from Syria already in Europe.

Over one million people crossed clandestinely from Turkey to Greece in 2015 and some 150,000 have made the trip since the start of this year.