Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about child refugees.
I was deeply saddened by the loss of life in the Channel as a boat carrying migrants sank in French waters near Dunkirk. My thoughts at this terrible time are with the loved ones of those who died. This awful incident highlights the danger of crossing the Channel by small boat and the ruthlessness of the criminals who are exploiting vulnerable people.
The French authorities are leading the law enforcement response and the UK Government is fully supporting this. We are determined to bring to justice the ruthless criminal people smugglers whose actions endanger lives. The Home Secretary has been clear from the beginning that the criminals exploiting vulnerable people will be stopped and I offer my support to this important work. The fatalities were especially sad because the crossing being attempted was unnecessary – the family were already in a safe country, France, and they could have claimed asylum there.
You are absolutely right to say that the UK should continue to take action to help those who are vulnerable and need our protection, specifically unaccompanied child refugees. The Government is committed to doing this and has a strong record on supporting vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. Through resettlement schemes, the UK resettles more refugees than any other country in Europe and are in the top five countries worldwide. Since September 2015, more than 25,000 vulnerable refugees have been resettled, with around half being children. These refugees are resettled directly from conflict zones, such as Syria, rather than from safe European countries such as Italy or France as the previous s67 Dubs amendment did. I believe that it is most important to prioritise those refugees in dangerous situations, not those already in Europe.
I respectfully believe that our disagreement on this issue is more about process than policy. As you may be aware, the UK presented a credible and serious offer to the EU to agree new, post-transition arrangements for the family reunion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The Government has confirmed that it remains the goal to negotiate such an arrangement.
As I hope you will appreciate, negotiations are ongoing, and I believe that it would not be right to undermine these in any way. A UK-EU agreement would be preferable to domestic Immigration Rules, as it would guarantee the support of sending states in the referral, transfer and safeguarding of children during the process. Therefore, a negotiated agreement is clearly the preferred approach. I do however welcome the fact that the Government has agreed to revisit the UK’s unilateral position if an agreement is not possible.
It is also important to note that the UK will continue to reunite unaccompanied children with family members in the UK under the Dublin Regulation during the transition period, processing and deciding all ‘take back’ requests that have been submitted.
Thank you again for contacting me.
Kind regards, Alister