Lib Dems call on PM “not to turn your back” on child refugees
Image by lisa runnels from Pixabay.
A press release from the Liberal Democrats brings the news:
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to commit to resettling 10,000 unaccompanied refugee children from elsewhere in Europe over the next ten years, following the closure of the Dubs scheme last month.
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Christine Jardine warned child refugees who have been “forced to flee their homes and separated from their families” and is urging the Government to “do all we can to protect them.”
In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, over 40 Liberal Democrat parliamentarians call on the Government to reverse its position in the Brexit negotiations not to seek to maintain the current arrangements to reunite unaccompanied asylum-seeking children with their family members.The Dubs scheme, closed by the Government last month, resettled 480 unaccompanied refugee children despite the original cross-party “Dubs amendment” providing for 3,000 children to be resettled.
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Christine Jardine said:
Child refugees who have been forced to flee their homes and separated from their families are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. We must do all we can to protect them.
The UK has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in need, but now the Conservative Government is turning its back on child refugees and failing to live up to our obligations to them.
The Liberal Democrats are standing up for child refugees and fighting for their rights to a safe home and hope for the future. The Government must listen.
Providing refugees with safe and legal routes to sanctuary in the UK is the best way to combat people smuggling and human trafficking, and to prevent people from making dangerous attempts to cross the Channel.
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This is good news. However, more is required on the practicalities. In practice, this is a request for Kent County Council to take more refugee strain, so without greater budgeting/timescale/identified personnel/KCC resources and powers, it isn’t fully useful.
There are plenty of seekers of sanctuary and refugees being looked after in Teesside and Glasgow, to name but two areas that are not Kent. The particular strain on Kent will come from people smugglers being intercepted. Christine Jardine is right to say providing safe and legal routes to sanctuary is the way to prevent people making the dangerous journey across the Channel. David Cameron when he was Prime Minister asked local authorities who was prepared to receive asylum seekers and refugees, and got plenty of offers of help. As a party we need to help those who need our help, and we will all be better for their contribution to Britain.