House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Michael Fabricant objects to the "distasteful" comparison between the Kindertransport and today's situation.

In the 1930s, he says there was no opportunity to go into Germany and assist the children who faced death in concentration camps.

It is very different to today, he says.

Amber Rudd agrees but says a comparison can be made with the conditions of the camps in the regions.

That is where the government is focusing its efforts, she says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour's Lord Dubs has the first question of the day. He wants to know the government estimate of how many hospital beds are currently occupied by patients who could be discharged.

Yesterday the BBC revealed that some patients had been left waiting for hundreds of days to leave hospital, including 89-year-old Iris Sibley, who spent six months at Bristol Royal Infirmary waiting for a nursing home place to open up.

Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy says that there were 6,191 people at the end of December 2016 in NHS beds who were "ready to return home or transfer to another form of care".

Lord Dubs says he's "puzzled" by the minister's figures, because he says that in November official figures had 200,000 people "bed blocking".

Lord O’Shaughnessy says Lord Dubs is quoting figures from across a whole month rather than a single day. 

But he says the problem illustrates the "changing nature of the patient demographic". He adds that there's a "wide variation in the rate of delayed discharge" and in the long run we "need a more sustainable solution".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Getty Images

• Save the Children initially ran a campaign for 3,000 children to be relocated to the UK

• In January, then Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said the government would commit to resettling more individuals, the majority of who would be children, and mentioned the 3,000 figure as a goal but didn’t give any figure as a commitment. 
• Lord Alf Dubs then tabled an amendment to the Immigration Bill for the UK to be required to take 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children from Europe. This had strong support from all opposition parties and a number of Conservative MPs
• The amendment passed in the House of Lords by a significant margin at the end of March. It then went to the Commons on Monday 25 April, where the Conservative government’s position was to vote no. It was rejected by a narrow margin in a vote on Monday night.
• It then went back to the House of Lords, where Lord Dubs reworded the amendment to read that the UK should take a “specified number” of unaccompanied children from Europe. This again passed with a significant majority.
• It went back to the Commons and was expected to go to a vote on 9 May
• On 4 May, ahead of the vote, then Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would take in an unspecified number of children fleeing conflict. Mr Cameron had been facing the threat of a Conservative backbench rebellion in a vote over the issue when he accepted a revised amendment to the Immigration Bill put forward by Labour peer Lord Dubs.

Communities & Local Govt Secretary Sajid Javid has issued the following Written Ministerial Statement: 

House of Commons
Parliament

Britain should be leading the way, says Conservative Tania Mathias.

She suggests that the government should give more resources to local authorities.

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's home affairs spokeswoman Joanna Cherry says she is "struggling to understand" the statement.

She asks the home secretary to clarify whether or not the scheme is closing after accepting 350 children.

If it has closed, she says, "that is completely against the spirit of what was discussed".

She wonders if "this is what comes of cosying up to President Trump."

Amber Rudd replies that the government is acting in accordance with the scheme by setting a number of children to help "following conversations with local authorities". 

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Steve Baker says that there is a shortage of resources and urges the government to "pay due regard to the children we already have".

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, however, asks how the home secretary "can live with herself".

Home Secretary Amber Rudd replies that the government is focusing on taking children "from the most vulnerable places" such as Jordan and Lebanon.

BBC Newsnight

What will happen when the Brexit bill goes to the House of Lords? Evan Davis discusses with Labour's former Europe minister Lord Hain and the Conservative MP and Brexit-supporter Suella Fernandes.   

House of Commons
Parliament

Amber Rudd tells MPs that "we have done what we were obliged to do."

She adds that the French authorities have do not want the UK to "indefinitely continue" to accept children as it "acts as a draw".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Yvette Cooper says Home Secretary Amber Rudd has closed the Dubs scheme to help unaccompanied child refugees "after it had been running for less than six months".

She said once 350 children have arrived in the UK "that's it, it is closed". Ms Cooper said:

House of Commons
Parliament

Yvette Cooper tells the House that she has looked back on the Hansard of the debate when the Dubs amendment was passed.

Where does it say that when we get the chance we will turn our backs? she asks.

"It doesn't because we didn't say that," she says and describes the home secretary's actions as "shameful".

She also objects to the cancellation of the fast track Dublin Scheme which helps those who have family living in the UK. 

"There are still so many children in need of help," she says, adding that "Britain can do better".

House of Commons
Parliament

The scheme is not closed Home Secretary Amber Rudd tells MPs.

She explains that the Dubs scheme was accepted on the basis that it would not act as a pull factor and that local authority capacity would be taken into account.

She adds that she is proud of the "active approach" the government has taken to "shelter the most vulnerable".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

Chair of the Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper now asks her urgent question on the closure of the Dubs programme to help unaccompanied child refugees.

Labour's Lord Dubs, who was brought to England on the Kindertransport, help design a law aimed at bringing 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children in Europe to the UK. 

Yesterday a ministerial statement said the UK would close the scheme after having taken in 350 children.

A legal challenge on how the government has handled the legal commitment will go ahead on Friday.  

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's trade spokeswoman Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh objects to the fact that a debate on Ceta (the EU-Canada trade deal) was "sidelined" to a committee rather than taking place on the floor of the House.

It was not an obscure committee, replies minister Greg Hands and adds that the debate lasted over two hours.

He also accuses the SNP of changing its mind on the trade deal.

House of Commons
Parliament

New Zealand is a land of 30m sheep, shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner tells the House. 

He worries that leaving the EU will result in a 43% WTO tariff on sheep meat.

This, coupled with opening the market to New Zealand, will be fatal to the UK sheep meat market, he says.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox replies that such concerns will form the part of negotiations.