Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans “tear up” a government pledge to protect child refugees in Europe seeking to reunite with family in the UK, campaigners have said.

The Prime Minister’s new withdrawal agreement bill, which sets out plans for the UK’s exit from the EU, has scrapped a previous commitment to negotiate a new deal for child refugees after Brexit.

The explanatory notes of the bill observe that the obligation to negotiate an agreement that “an unaccompanied child who has made a claim for international protection in a member state can come to the UK to join a relative” has been dropped.

That obligation, which was pushed for and celebrated by Lord Alf Dubs and the wider Labour Party as well as refugee charities, has been replaced with a requirement only to make a statement to parliament.

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Reacting to this, Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said: “During the last Parliament, Labour’s Alf Dubs led the campaign to protect child refugees post-Brexit. The Tories now want to tear up those protections.

“As we leave the EU we cannot abandon our values of human rights and internationalism. Labour must continue to stand up for the most vulnerable people in the world.”

Lord Alf Dubs told The Independent it was a “retrograde step” that could leave hundreds of children with relatives in the UK stranded alone in Europe.

“It’s deeply depressing and deeply disappointing. We’re talking about children and young people who had some hope of a decent life with their relatives,” he said.

“We know there are at least several hundreds of children in these conditions. It’s mean-spirited and nasty. I will do all I can to challenge it. I think it’s absolutely wrong in principle, and what a terrible start for a new government.”

Beth Gardiner-Smith, chief executive of charity Safe Passage, said it was “truly shocking” that the government had taken the “first opportunity it had to water down vital protections for unaccompanied child refugees”, warning that it could have “potentially tragic consequences”.

She added: “Right now across Europe there are thousands of unaccompanied child refugees living in the most desperate circumstances – many of whom are separated from their family. Legal family reunion is a lifeline to these children who would otherwise risk their lives in dingies or in the back of lorries in order to reach a place of safety with their family.​”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman insisted that the government was “committed to ensuring that children claiming asylum or international protection can be reunited with specified family members in the EU and vice versa”.