Jeremy Corbyn urges Theresa May to speed up bringing Calais child refugees to the UK

The Labour leader has written to the Prime Minister

An aerial view shows makeshift shelters, tents and containers where migrants live in what is known as the Jungle, a sprawling camp in Calais, France, September 7, 2016 (Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Theresa May must intervene “as a matter of urgency” to speed up the transfer of child refugees from camps in northern France to Britain, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The Labour leader wrote to the Prime Minister on Wednesday warning that is was still “worrying unclear” how the Government intended to stand by its commitment to help the unaccompanied minors.

Earlier this year the Government accepted the so-called Dubs Amendment and committed itself to taking in children in the camps.

Mr Corbyn however noted in a letter that despite the Home Secretary holding the papers for 212 children eligible under the Dubs Amendment “five months after the Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act, none of the qualifying children have been brought to the UK”.

“With the imminent closure of the Calais camp, it is imperative that the Office of the Prime Minister intervenes as a matter of urgency to ensure that this process is prioritised – and the many vulnerable children who have already been through the trauma of fleeing violence and destitution, and are now at risk of slavery and trafficking, are finally given refuge here in the UK,” he said.

In July Lord Dubs, himself a former child refugee to Britain who fled from the Nazis, warned that Britain was breaking its pledge to help the children. He said that now the EU referendum was out of the way the Government should begin the process.


 Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader
 (PA)

Mr Corbyn wrote: “I am writing to you to express my deep concerns about the obvious delay in implementing the Alf Dubs amendment and commitments to help child refugees.

“The Dubs amendment instructed the Government to act decisively and quickly to give security and sanctuary to child refugees who are alone and at high risk of abuse in the continent of Europe.

“The Government has also pledged to speed up the process for lone child refugees who are, under the Dublin agreement, entitled to join family here in the UK.”

This week tabloid newspapers and Conservative MPs made unsubstantiated claims that children being brought to the UK were in fact adults, based on what they judged to be the children’s mature appearance.

Joined by former New Labour minister Jack Straw they called for dental checks to determine the age of the children, though no such accurate checks to determine age in fact exist.

“It's not only an inaccurate method for assessing age, but it is both inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them,” a spokesperson for the British Dental Association said.