Boris Johnson accused of ‘direct attack’ on child refugees in Brexit law change

Boris Johnson was accused of carrying out ‘a direct attack on some of the most vulnerable children in the world’ today after stripping out concessions on refugees from his new Brexit law.

The Prime Minister came under fire in the Commons after it was revealed his Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) has removed concessions on unaccompanied youngsters agreed by Theresa May to woo Labour backbenchers.

An agreement to maintain EU-level workers’ rights has also been dropped, with Boris Johnson now having a majority of 80 and no need to rely on opposition rebels to pass Brexit into law.

MPs will hold a vote today in the Common that will pave the way for the UK to leave the European Unionon January 31.

But Lisa Nandy, who represents Leave supporting Wigan and is being tipped as a potential next Labour leader, lasted out at the start of the bill’s debate this morning. 

Ms Nandy said that while the Prime Minister is right to say he has won a mandate to get Brexit done, he has ‘not earned the right to shoehorn into this legislation measures that are a direct attack on some of the most vulnerable children in the world’.

She added: ‘If he thinks that people in towns like mine, who believe that we should deliver Brexit, want to see us turn our back on decency and tolerance and kindness and warmth and empathy, he is wrong. 

‘Will he take these measures on child refugees out of this Bill?’

In reply to Ms Nandy, the Prime Minister replied: ‘She is wrong on this point. We remain absolutely committed to ensuring that we continue in this country to receive unaccompanied children, as we have done.’ 

Lisa Nandy, who represents Leave supporting Wigan and is being tipped as a potential next Labour leader, lasted out at the start of the bill’s debate this morning

The Prime Minister came under fire in the Commons after it was revealed his Withdrawal Agreement Bill (Wab) has removed concessions on unaccompanied youngsters agreed by Theresa May to woo Labour backbenchers

The Prime Minister came under fire in the Commons after it was revealed his Withdrawal Agreement Bill (Wab) has removed concessions on unaccompanied youngsters agreed by Theresa May to woo Labour backbenchers

He added: ‘I reject the idea that our proceedings must be somehow overseen and invigilated by the EU and measured against their benchmarks.’

Newcastle Labour MP says she will BACK PM’s Brexit law 

A Labour MP has said she does not want to ‘just oppose for opposition’s sake’ as she declared she will vote for the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal.

South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck previously voted for the second reading of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill in October, but rejected the Government’s bid to push it through Parliament in just two days.

However, she said she now recognised the Government’s ‘overwhelming mandate’ and wanted to work to ‘build consensus’.

Her constituency voted 62 per cent to Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and her vote share decreased by 16 per cent in the 2019 election.

During the debate on the Bill, she said: ‘I will vote for it again today. As for the programme motion it is short, last time we tried to force the Government to offer more time, we ended up in the worst General Election in my memory.

‘And now, as much as I am utterly heartbroken by it, the party opposite has an overwhelming mandate they did not have the last time we held this debate.

‘I will vote for the programme motion as well and put my energy into making the case for changes in committee stages.

‘I don’t want to just oppose for opposition’s sake. We need to build consensus and stop the combative nature of this debate.

‘It has served no-one and the last three years have proven that.’

She added: ‘It is with the heaviest of hearts that I can’t vote with my party today, but I will always put my constituents before everything else.

‘Because the day I don’t is the day I no longer deserve the honour of being their voice in this place.’

Addressing concerns about workers’ rights, he added: ‘This House should never doubt its ability to pioneer standards for the fourth industrial revolution, just as we did the first.’

No 10 has insisted both measures to help young refugees and workers’ rights will be introduced in separate legislation 

But the Prime Minister was accused of using key Brexit legislation to ‘bring up the drawbridge’ and stop the right of unaccompanied minors coming to the United Kingdom. 

The revised wording of the Brexit Bill, due to be put before MPs on Friday, removes a Government commitment to strike a deal with the European Union so child refugees can be reunited with their family in the UK, even after free movement ends.

The terms – pushed for by Lord Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis as a boy – had been accepted by Theresa May when she was in Number 10 but her successor Boris Johnson looks to have watered down the commitment to simply requiring a minister to ‘make a statement’ to Parliament.

The change has been made in Clause 37 of the WAB, stating that a minister will ‘make a single statement to Parliament within two months’ of it passing to explain progress on the arrangements for child refugees seeking their families in the UK.

Lord Dubs Tweeted on Friday: ‘Appalling and deeply distressing that the government is threatening to scrap the right of refugee children to be reunited with their families here.

‘These are among the most vulnerable children imaginable – unaccompanied and alone. We’re not talking large numbers. These children simply wish to find safety with their families, who are able and willing to support them.

‘Parliament has already shown it supports family reunion for refugee children and I have faith it will do so again. Attempts to strip these children of their right to be with their loved ones will be resisted in the Commons and the Lords.

‘And I really don’t buy the government’s claim that this new position is just for the purpose of negotiation. Vulnerable children are not bargaining chips. We should not be exploiting their misery for political purposes, but defending them as our own.’

Labour’s lame duck leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is due to quit in the new year after the disastrous election, confirmed that Labour would vote against the WAB. 

Labour's lame duck leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is due to quit in the new year after the disastrous election, confirmed that Labour would vote against the Wab

Labour’s lame duck leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is due to quit in the new year after the disastrous election, confirmed that Labour would vote against the Wab

He said he was ‘appalled’ by the new bill, saying: ‘Throughout the last Parliament and for his whole life my good friend Lord Dubs has worked tirelessly to ensure children affected by the worst aspects of global injustice are given sanctuary in this country.

‘Now this government, in its first week in office has ripped up those hard won commitments.’

He said Mr Johnson was offering a ‘terrible’ Brexit deal, adding: ‘Labour will not support this Bill as we remain certain there is a better and fairer way for this country to leave the European Union.

‘One which would not risk ripping our communities apart, selling out our public services or sacrificing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.

‘This deal is a road map for the reckless direction in which the Government and our Prime Minister are determined to take our country.’

 

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