Conservative MPs '100 per cent prepared to rebel against the Government over child refugee refusal', source says

The group is preparing to meet the immigration minister

A makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece (Reuters)

A group of Conservative MPs are “100 per cent” prepared to rebel against the Government over its refusal to take in unaccompanied child refugees from Europe, one of their number said, as they prepared to meet the immigration minister on Wednesday.

Around 30 Conservative MPs are expected to back a new House of Lords amendment to the Immigration Bill next week which would require the Government to take in an unspecified number of child refugees from the continent.

South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen, one of the group, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she and colleagues were “absolutely” prepared to vote against the Government if it did not back down.

Downing Street has said it will look again at the issue, and the rebel MPs will meet immigration minister James Brokenshire today to discuss alternatives, including a potential deal to speed up reunions for refugee children in Europe with family members already in the UK.

The meeting comes after Sir Erich Reich, chairman of the Kindertransport-Association of Jewish Refugees, who was one of 10,000 children taken into safety in the UK before the Second World War, made a personal appeal to David Cameron to accept 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees, calling on the UK to “once again demonstrate our compassion”.

The Government rejected a previous amendment tabled by Lord Dubs, who was himself one of the 10,000 Kindertransport children. The amendment was defeated by just 18 votes last week, meaning that the Tory rebellion on the new amendment, which is also has the support of DUP MPs, would likely be enough to defeat the Government.

One compromise understood to be under consideration would see ‘humanitarian visas’ issued to the children, allowing them to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK once they reach the age of 18.

Criticising the Prime Minister’s claim that refugees in Europe were already in relative safety, compared to those that the Government is supporting in Syria and the region, Ms Allen told Today: “It is not ‘relatively safe’ to be pulled into trafficking and prostitution.

“Talk to the doctors there from Médecins Sans Frontières; they are literally stitching up children on a daily basis and sending them back to the camps. That is not the safety you and I think of when we think of Europe. These children are not safe at all and they need our help.”