Theresa May gave up on ‘compassionate Conservativism’ when she dropped the Dubs Amendment

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Thursday 09 February 2017 15:48 GMT
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No more children will be accepted to the UK under the Dubs Amendment
No more children will be accepted to the UK under the Dubs Amendment (Citizens UK)

It is shameful that Theresa May has decided to renege the Government’s promise to bring the most vulnerable refugee children to safety in the UK. That the announcement was sneaked out by the Tories just before recess, is an absolute disgrace.

The UK has taken just 350 lone child refugees which is nowhere near the 3,000 originally proposed by Lord Dubs and is fewer than one per local authority in the UK.

Any claim by the Prime Minister to be a compassionate Conservative is utterly undermined by the dereliction of duty to some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

The Government should have been doing far more to support local authorities in helping provide the support and safety child refugees need so desperately.

Only this week, a report by the counter extremism organisation Quilliam revealed how thousands of vulnerable child refugees, abandoned by countries like the UK, are being left vulnerable to sexual and financial exploitation by human traffickers and radicalisation by groups like Isis who are seeking to capitalise on Europe's wavering response to the refugee crisis.

Citizens UK is a charity that witnesses first-hand the horrifying daily risks these children faced in Calais and just how desperate for safety they were. This is a national scandal, which disgraces us all. The Government should hang its head in shame.

Britain has a proud tradition of welcoming those most in need. We stepped up to rescue 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi persecution. One of those children was Lord Dubs, who arrived in the UK as a child refugee on the kindertransport. Which is why I am joining Citizens UK and calling for the Prime Minister to stand by the country's values, reverse her decision and keep Lord Dubs' scheme alive.

Keith Taylor, Green Party MEP for the South East

Brussels

Going against the tide

In your otherwise excellent editorial today (Green energy is evolving, so why aren’t the attitudes of ministers?), you, sadly, failed to mention tidal power as a source of renewable energy. This is of great interest here in Swansea, where the local imaginative project seems about to become reality after a good deal of delay at government level.

This is a genuinely long term project which, with other strategic examples, will produce up to 8 per cent of our needs on a fully predictable basis. Yes, it will need maintenance and eventual replacement of working parts, but this can be done in a piecemeal fashion from land based foundations.

Roger Knight

Swansea

This is not the time for division

On 4 February, over 40,000 people marched in central London against Donald Trump’s “Muslim Ban”. This was the first of such demonstrations that was led and called by British Muslim organisations and institutions.

As British Muslims, we are outraged at Donald Trump’s attempt to ban people from seven predominately Muslim countries entering the USA. Although the international protest movement won a victory on Saturday morning when the US appeal court refused to reinstate the ban, this is not the end to the Trump administration’s Islamophobic rhetoric and policies.

The demonstration was organised by the Muslim Council of Britain, Muslim Association of Britain, Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) in partnership with the Stop the War Coalition, Stand up to Racism, the People's Assembly Against Austerity; and supported by Friends of Al-Aqsa and CND.

We are disappointed that Owen Jones announced on social media that he would not attend our demonstration because of Stand Up To Racism’s perceived connection to the Socialist Workers Party.

We believe this was divisive. Stand Up To Racism involves many in its leading bodies including Diane Abbott MP, Kate Osamor MP, CWU General Secretary Dave Ward, NUT General Secretary Kevin Courtney, Rabbi Lee Wax, Talha Ahmad from the Muslim Council of Britain, amongst others.

British Muslims need support at this important time from organisations opposed to Islamophobia.

Maz Saleem Anti- Racism Campaigner Daughter of the late Haji Mohammed Saleem

Mohammed Taj Unite the Union Executive member

Talha Ahmad, Muslim Council of Britain

Dr Shazad Amin, MEND CEO

Mohammed Kozbar, Muslim Association of Britain

Attiq Malik, Campaigns Lawyer, Justice for Luton

An outsiders perspective

As a British citizen now living in the USA, I have been following the Brexit issue with great interest and some alarm.

It is interesting to note, that while there was a majority amongst those that actually voted, it was in fact a narrow majority, yet it would appear from the behaviour of MPs and the Government that it was in fact won with a huge majority. Closely held principles and the voting decisions of their constituencies didn't seem to matter at all when the time came for MPs to cast their own vote in Parliament, they simply capitulated to the instructions of their whips.

It is also interesting to me that while there is a certain amount of smug disdain and criticism in the UK about the results of the election over here, the drivers for Brexit seem to be almost the same. These include; a fear of immigrants and people not like us, a desire to make Great Britain great again, and a move away from knowledge and facts to emotion and "alternative facts" as a means of making decisions about the future.

Raymond Smith

South Carolina

How dare Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, announce that we have to "unite to make a success of the important task at hand for our country.”

What exactly does he expect us to do when he and Theresa May are hell bent on ignoring anyone who disagrees with the extreme course of action they have embarked upon with a mandate of only 37 per cent of voters? Shame on the House for not even providing some certainty for the millions of EU citizens living on this country. This is not the will of the people.

Lynda Newbery

Bristol

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