The Home Office has won an appeal against a court ruling which allowed four Syrian refugees to join family in the UK.

In a landmark case earlier this year, a judge ruled three teenagers and a 26-year-old man suffering mental health problems should be allowed to join relatives living in Britain.

The court heard that the boys faced conditions that were akin to "living hell" in the French migrant camps and should be immediately brought to the UK.

Image: A migrant walks among tents in a muddy field at a camp of makeshift shelters called the Grande Synthe jungle, near Calais

That decision was hailed as groundbreaking by refugee welfare groups, who had said they hoped it would pave the way for other families separated by war in Syria to be reunited.

However, three Court of Appeal judges upheld the Home Office appeal against the decision on the grounds the four refugees had not followed the correct process.


The Home Office said it could set a legal precedent and undermine Britain's control over its borders.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Refugee Taskforce, said: "I am appalled that Theresa May has pursued this appeal to make it harder for vulnerable child refugees who are alone in Europe to join family in Britain.

"These children's lives and safety are at risk as they have no one to look after them. The result of this appeal is to put extra bureaucratic obstacles in the way of lone child refugees who are desperately vulnerable to trafficking, slavery and abuse - even though they have relatives who could care for them here."

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "It is disgusting that the Government is putting ideology above what is best for desperate and vulnerable children."

The man and the three teenagers are already in the UK but will not now face deportation, the judges said.

Under an EU law called the Dublin Regulation, asylum claims must be made in the country refugees arrive in but children can have their claims transferred to another country if relatives are already living there.

Image: Migrants queue in the Calais 'jungle'

Lawyers had successfully argued that the regulation was not working properly and an immigration judge ruled, the boys, who had been traumatised by their experiences, should be allowed to live in the UK while their cases were considered.

However, the Home Office said the four should have applied for asylum in France first and they could then have been handed to the UK.

Criticising the decision, George Gabriel, from the charity Citizens UK, which represented the four, said: "When we brought this case, it was an enormous kick... for the Government, and the system is now working better because 50 children have been brought to Britain since the case.

"But it means that charities like ours will have to continue identifying children one by one, taking them through a lengthy bureaucratic process as they have to wait to be reunited with their loved ones.

"Today is a great day for bureaucrats because it means that the letter of the process will have to be followed despite the clearly unacceptable wait this leaves refugee children facing."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal to recognise the principle that those seeking protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.

"Any request to unite family members under the Dublin Regulation is carefully considered. Where someone seeking asylum elsewhere in the EU can demonstrate they have close family members legally in the UK, we will take responsibility for that claim."