Alongside the children’s charity and Labour, Tim Farron, the evangelical Christian leader of the Liberal Democrat party, who has long campaigned for Britain to take at least 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees from Europe, said the reponse was ” pitiful”.
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In a Commons written statement, he also confirmed that the Government would work with the United Nations refugee agency – the UNHCR – to identify vulnerable children in conflict zones such as Syria and Afghanistan who would benefit from being re-settled in the UK. Britain will resettle some migrant children, but mostly from outside Europe.
The government has been torn between the pressure to accept more orphaned child refugees and anxiety that any liberalisation of its migration policy could have an adverse impact on the forthcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. They said they hope to prevent children from making the risky crossing over water to Europe.
It said it does not want to create a “magnet” encouraging more people to make the potentially fatal journey to Europe, only to be possibly sent home again.
The money will be used to help the children who are most at risk in Europe, to provide them with “safe places” to stay, as well as extra support.
He said: “Labour called on the Government to reach out a hand to vulnerable children in desperate circumstances and we are pleased that they have listened”.
Displaced children, who fled with their families the violence from Islamic State-controlled area of al-Bab, wait as they are stuck in the Syrian village of Akda to cross into Turkey, January 23, 2016.
Sources indicate that the number will not significantly increase the current commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees from the region over the next five years.
There are thought to be more than 20,000 unaccompanied child refugees in Europe, though some cabinet ministers are sceptical about those figures.
‘The vast majority are better off staying in the region so they can be reunited with surviving family members.
It also declared on Thursday the creation of a new fund of up to £10 million to support refugee children within Europe.
It came as the Prime Minister faced criticism from all sides after describing refugees in Calais as a “bunch of migrants”.
Most of those who arrived in Greece continued through the Balkans towards Austria, Germany, Sweden and other countries.
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“It is about dealing with the children, supporting them, in the best possible way we can, rather than taking an arbitrary number and saying “We will help this many”. “They are equally deserving and need our protection”, he told Sky News.
