ON MONDAY, May 9 the House of Commons will have another opportunity to vote to offer sanctuary to vulnerable child refugees who have already arrived in Europe.
Some will have made the journey alone, others will have lost family on the way.
They are now alone and vulnerable in Europe – prey for traffickers and those who would sexually exploit them.
In January Europol revealed that at least 10,000 of these children had gone missing – the number now is likely to be far higher.
It is wrong, immoral and frankly untrue for the government and Conservative MPs, from Dorset or elsewhere, to argue that these children are safe just because they have reached Europe.
David Cameron argued at PMQs that taking children from Europe would insult our European partners.
This is, I am afraid, nonsense: they have pleaded for help, and so far the UK has turned their backs.
I would urge any MP making these comments to visit the camps and see the horrors for themselves, like the Lib Dems’ Tim Farron who has visited Calais, Lesbos and northern Greece.
Until they do, they simply cannot advance these arguments with any credibility.
The UK has a proud tradition of offering sanctuary to the world’s most vulnerable, whether via the Kindertransport in the 1930s, or Ugandan Asians fleeing Idi Amin’s regime in the 1970s.
We must do so again.
HUGO MIEVILLE
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson, North Dorset
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