THERESA May has come under intense pressure today to reverse her decision to close a scheme to accommodate unaccompanied children in Europe after the daughter of “Britain’s Schindler” made a personal appeal for her to “do the right thing”.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Barbara Winton, daughter of Sir Nicholas, referred to Donald Trump's refugee ban, saying it echoed the “terrible failures of the human spirit that, on the eve of the Second World War, saw country after country close its borders to Jewish refugees in urgent need of protection”.
Her late father helped 669 mostly Jewish children flee Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia just before the outbreak of war in 1939.
Read more: David Pratt - A shameful, sly decision that betrays child refugees in peril
Noting how the fact that Britain had taken any child refugees fleeing the war in Syria showed his spirit lived on, Ms Winton told Mrs May: “As my father's MP, I know he deeply valued the relationship he had with you towards the end of his life and at his memorial you very generously described him as 'an enduring example of the difference that good people can make even in the darkest of times' and said 'I hope that his life will serve as an inspiration for us all ... and encourage us to do the right thing’.
"As the world once again teeters on the edge of dark times, I ask you to remember those words," she added.
Ms Winton’s call followed that of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and several MPs, who during Commons exchanges expressed outrage at the UK Government’s move to close the so-called Dubs scheme, named after the Labour peer and former child refugee Lord Dubs, which seeks to help unaccompanied child refugees stranded in Europe.
Read more: David Pratt - A shameful, sly decision that betrays child refugees in peril
The archbishop said he was "saddened and shocked" at Whitehall’s decision to limit to 350 the number of children under the Dubs scheme and said he had believed ministers were "committed to welcoming up to 3,000 children under this scheme" and it was "regrettable" such a small proportion had been given sanctuary in Britain.
His intervention piles further pressure on the PM and her ministers, who yesterday were heavily criticised by MPs and peers after the cap on the scheme was quietly announced just hours before the Brexit Bill vote.
But speaking at a press conference in Downing Street following talks with Paolo Gentiloni, the Italian Prime Minister, Mrs May emphasised how the Dubs scheme was only one of a number of routes by which vulnerable children from war-torn Syria could find sanctuary in the UK.
"We have been seeing quite a number of children and families being resettled here in the United Kingdom,” explained the PM. “What we are doing in terms of refugees is absolutely right; on top, of course, of the significant financial support and humanitarian aid we are giving to refugees in the region of Syria - a commitment of £2.3 billion, the second biggest bilateral donor."
Read more: David Pratt - A shameful, sly decision that betrays child refugees in peril
Downing Street also sought to defend the Government’s position, pointing out how in the last year alone some 8,000 child refugees from across the world had been settled in the UK and that half of the 4,500 Syrian refugees accommodated here under the scheme to accept 20,000 by 2020 were children.
Earlier, during fractious exchanges in the Commons, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, said the decision to apply the cap was made after France had raised concerns that the scheme could be encouraging more children to make the perilous journey to Europe and risk becoming victims of people traffickers.
But Labour’s Yvette Ms Cooper said thousands of child refugees were languishing in camps in Greece and Italy, desperate for help and at risk of abuse, exploitation and modern slavery.
"Britain can do better than this,” she declared, asking Ms Rudd: “Will she accept that and reinstate the Dubs programme now?"
Joanna Cherry for the SNP questioned whether the policy was the result of "cosying up" to Mr Trump and later urged Mrs May to “show some moral and political leadership by immediately scrapping the UK Government’s plans to abandon child refugees”.
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