Government is defeated in House of Lords over rights of child refugees
THE HOUSE of Lords has voted against the Government and backed a move to allow unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with their families in the UK after Brexit.
Voting was 300 to 220, majority 80, during a report stage debate yesterday on the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, which has already been passed by big majorities in the Commons.
It was the fourth defeat for Ministers on the legislation in less than 24 hours, but is likely to be overturned by MPs when it goes back to the Commons today.
Labour’s Lord Dubs led the bid to restore the right of unaccompanied child refugees in the EU to be reunited with their families in the UK after Brexit, suggesting his amendment would help disprove accusations that the Tories were the “mean and nasty” party.
The Labour peer, who fled the
Nazis as a child on the Kindertransport, urged Ministers not to use the small number of children involved as “bargaining chips” in negotiations.
He said the Government was seeking to delete earlier protections for child refugees in the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018, but it was a simple matter of humanity to retain them.
Urging the Government not to “close the door” on the children affected, Lord Dubs said some lived in “shocking” conditions in French camps at risk of sexual exploitation.
By providing them with a safe, legal route to the UK, peers would be “thwarting the traffickers” and avoiding the need for youngsters to take more dangerous options to get to their families.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the Government would seek to overturn the amendment in the Commons.