Government defeats child refugee motion

Charity Save the Children, the Liberal Democrats and Labour MPs and peers have lobbied the Government to take in 3000 unaccompanied children stranded in Europe who have fled the conflict in Syria.

Tonight 294 MPs voted with the Conservatives to block an amendement tabled by Lord Alf Dubs to the Immigration Bill that would have forced the Government into providing new homes for the youngsters. 276 MPs voted in favour of the amendment.

Downing Street said earlier in the day it was not going to waive financial privilege, an unusual move that means the Lords must now drop their proposal in its current form.

Financial privilege was put forward by Commons clerks, which is the norm when an amendment involves tax-payers money but in the majority of cases the Government does not take up its right to invoke it.

However with it being in force on this occasion, Labour MPs were relying on a Tory rebellion to ensure that the Government was defeated so Lord Dubs’ plan was carried.

The Labour peer’s amendment will now be ditched and Labour Lords will go back to the drawing board to come up with another proposal.

And with the Lords meeting on Tuesday morning it is likely the next amendment will be tabled within 24 hours and if voted on favourably could be back in the Commons early next week.

A Labour source said: “It goes back to the House of Lords, but who can’t proceed on that same amendment. That doesn’t stop them tabling a different one though.

“It seems very odd to have used financial privilege on this - this isn’t an issue like the Budget. This is just their way of stopping any further debate on the issue.”

As the discussion got underway, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire, said he respected the sentiment of the Lord Dubs amendment and wants to put the children’s interests first.

The Conservative MP said: “The Government wholeheartedly shares the noble Lords intention to protect and support unaccompanied refugee children. The challenge is how we harness this strong sense of compassion, and our strong sense of moral duty in the most effetive way.

“How we use both head and heart.

“In any response we need to be careful not to inadvertently create a situation where sending children ahead, alone and in the hands of traffickers, putting their lives at risk by attempting treacherous sea-crossings.”

Bristol West MP Thangan Debbonaire said the Government could easily meet the costs of finding foster carers and therapeutic support for the children if each local authority took five youngsters.

Labour MP for Normanton. Castleford and Pontefract and former shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said that Lord Dubs will continue to push for another amnendment to the Immigration Bill as soon as possible.

Many MPs took to social media to express their disapointment at the result.

Rachael Maskell MP for York Central, Tweeted: “Tonight I voted to stop children being exploited and trafficked, and brought to a place of safety, but we narrowly lost the vote.”

Tim Farron, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “In the past, Britain has consistently stood up for the best in human nature - it has opened its doors with the Kindertransport to those escaping Nazi brutality and again to Ugandan’s fleeing Idi Amin’s brutal regime. Tonight the Government have dishonoured that legacy.

“The Government have closed their eyes to those in need. It is now up to the House of Lords, and my Liberal Democrat colleagues there, to bring back the issue, make the Government think again, and offer the Tories another chance to be humanitarians.”

Czech-born Lord Dubs was brought to Britain as a child on the Kindertransport programme that rescued hundreds of children from Nazi Germany.

The 83-year-old’s amendment was supported with a majority 102 in the House of Lords on March 21.