UK Government votes down bill which would reunite child refugees with their families

Government votes down bid to reunite child refugees with family

For a second time, the government has voted down any efforts to maintain family reunion rights for child refugees after the UK leaves the EU at the end of the year.

The proposal has been approved by the House of Lords twice, but also twice rejected by the Commons.

Labour peer Lord Dubs, who was a Kindertransport child refugee from the Nazis, said that this defeat was disappointing, but declared that he wants to make a further attempt when the bill returns to the upper House. He said to the Independent:

“It’s going to come back to the House of Lords and we will have to see what we can do. It is under discussion as we speak.”

Refugees and asylum claimers rights after Brexit

The right of child refugees to be reunited with their family in the UK will change after the transition to the post-Brexit relations with the EU.

Kevin Foster, immigration minister, said:

“It’s important we consider these routes to discourage vulnerable children from making the dangerous and illegal journeys that can result in the kind of tragedy we saw last week.”

However, Labour’s shadow Home Office minister Holly Lynch told the Commons:

“We are a decent and humanitarian country who take seriously their enshrined requirement under international law to consider asylum claims and to offer refuge to those fleeing persecution and destitution.”

Do you wish to seek asylum in the UK?

If you wish to move to the UK, either as an asylum seeker or on a different immigration rule, you can get in touch with IAS’ UK immigration experts in South Africa.

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The right of child refugees to be reunited with their family in the UK will change after the UK leaves the EU.