Peer criticises decision to axe scheme he fought to set up and says local authorities are still willing to accept more children

Alf Dubs, who led the fight to secure sanctuary in the UK for refugee children, which resulted in the amendment in his name, has issued a direct appeal to the home secretary to reinstate the measure.

Lord Dubs said the decision to axe the policy must be reversed to take in more children stranded in Europe. “The secretary of state’s announcement is a very bad letdown for some very vulnerable children in France, Greece and Italy,” he said. “Before this announcement was made they had a little bit of hope.”

Dubs and others who supported the amendment had believed approximately 3,000 children would be brought to the UK, a figure he said would represent the UK taking its fair share among European countries of this vulnerable group. Instead the process will close after just 350 children have been accepted.



Speaking outside a preliminary hearing for a challenge to home secretary Amber Rudd’s consultation process on the change, Dubs said he believed many local authorities were ready and waiting to welcome and support many more children than Rudd indicated was possible in her announcement.



He said: “The home secretary’s view is that local authorities don’t have the space to take in any more children. I don’t think that’s right. Local authorities say they do have the space.”

The legal challenge is being brought by the charity Help Refugees. It questions the lawfulness of Rudd’s consultation process with local authorities to find out how many child refugees they are willing to accommodate.



Local authorities such as Hammersmith & Fulham in west London have indicated they are willing to accept more children.

Stephen Cowan, the council’s leader, told Sky News he had written to the Home Office offering to take more children but received no response.

“I wrote to [Home Office minister] Baroness Williams just last week to point out that we have offered to take an extra 15 more children but despite our offer and despite our pestering they have only given us 13,” Cowan said.

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Dubs said rather than relaunching the consultation process with local authorities, all Rudd needed to do was to put a call out to all local authorities asking which ones still have capacity to take refugee children from Europe.

“I hope very much that the home secretary will change the criteria and will drop the figure of 350 children who can come here. We are not letting in that many children and I’m anxious that section 67 [of the Immigration Act 2016] is implemented fully and properly.”

Dubs called on Rudd to circulate a new appeal to local authorities.

“All the government needs to do is put out a new appeal to local authorities asking who can take more children. It doesn’t need a whole new consultation. We are going to keep the pressure up about this. I believe that the government decision to limit the number of children allowed in to 350 flies in the face of both parliamentary opinion and public opinion.”