The Government has been accused of never wanting to take in refugee children after campaigners delivered a petition demanding a rethink to Downing Street.

A box containing more than 44,000 signatures was handed in to Number 10 after the Government back-tracked on a commitment to help up to 3,000 vulnerable youngsters come to the UK.

Ministers have claimed that the scheme was being abused by people-traffickers and that it was seen as a 'pull-factor' which encouraged youngsters to come here.

They have also suggested that councils do not have sufficient resources to help more unaccompanied children, but several local authority leaders have rejected that claim.

Image: Thousands signed a petition demanding a rethink

Lord Dubs, who helped secure the initial commitment to take children, described the decision to axe the pledge as a "very shabby cop-out".


The Labour peer came to Britain as a child refugee on the Kindertransport to escape the Nazis during the Second World War.

He said: "The Government are using it as an excuse in saying local authorities can't take any more. There's a willingness on the part of local authorities to take more unaccompanied children and we should say yes to that."

The leader of London's Hammersmith and Fulham council Stephen Cowan said: "We think the Government never wanted to take the refugee children.

"When we offered in Hammersmith and Fulham to take - on top of all the children we were currently taking in the national transfer scheme - an extra 10, instead of snapping that up, we found the Government saying they were very disappointed.

"They wanted us to add that number to the original figure we had promised to take."

Lone minors remain as refugee cap announced

In response to Mr Cowan's comments, the Home Office said the Government is determined to help the most vulnerable.

A spokesperson added: "The reality is that just in the last two weeks more than 300 refugees have arrived in the UK and around half of these were children. It's also a fact that more than 8,000 children found shelter, security and safety in the UK in the last year.

"And it's a further fact that this Government is committed to resettling up to 3,000 vulnerable children and their families from the Middle East and North Africa region and 20,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament.

The Government has faced strong criticism over its decision, with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby describing it as "deeply unjust".

The UK never publicly said it would take 3,000 children when the pledge was made, but campaigners believe that was the figure widely discussed at the time.

Image: A memorial at London's Liverpool Street Station to children who arrived on the Kindertransport, fleeing from the Nazis

Businesswoman Dame Stephanie Shirley, who was five when she arrived in Britain as a lone child refugee in 1939, told Sky News she is "ashamed" of how little the country is doing.

She said: "Three thousand may sound big but it is not in fact so large when spread across the country. We do have space. We have managed it before."