I must express my concern at your vote against the Dubs amendment to the
Immigration Bill, which attempted to commit the government to taking a
share of the unaccompanied child refugees currently languishing in
various locations across Europe. The figure of 3000 such children has
been proposed by Save the Children since at least last summer, and at
least the same number of unaccompanied children is still recorded by
charities despite large numbers having apparently disappeared, perhaps
abducted for who knows what purposes.
The repeated wheeling out
of the "pull factors" argument horrifies me. It means that those
children who have already travelled into EU countries, wherever they
come from and whatever they are fleeing, must not be helped for fear of
encouraging others to travel. Their fate is irrelevant. They must stay
in the mud of the camps, at the mercy of illness, violence and gangs,
in the service of this "greater imperative".
The UK government
has rightly, and to its great credit, spent large sums on supporting
refugee camps around Syria, and tried to enlist other countries to make
similar provision. But our attitude to those who, for whatever reason,
have travelled westwards seems to be that they must be punished for
their foolish decisions, or the foolish decisions of their parents.
I
can only hope that you will think again when Lord Dubs' second
amendment arrives in the Commons. I would be ashamed if this country's
policy continues to be that these people should just go away.
