A child in the refugee camp in Calais, France.
Anthony Devlin / PA
Labour has called on the government to urgently accept over 150 children from the Calais refugee camp who have family connections to Britain.
The party also challenged ministers to take 300 children most at risk in Greece and Italy before the new school year in September.
The government bowed to pressure last week and agreed to resettle some child refugees from Europe amid mounting pressure from MPs.
But on Monday night, immigration minister James Brokenshire refused to be drawn in the House of Commons on how many children Britain would be helping and over what timeframe.
His Labour counterpart Keir Starmer urged him to speed up the plans. "Citizens UK has identified 157 children in Calais with family connections here," he said.
"The challenge for the government is surely to take all those in Calais with valid legal claims for reunification... This is the time for action, not words.
"We also challenge the government to take 300 children most at risk in Greece and Italy before the start of the next school term. There is an urgency to this situation.
"The debate two weeks ago was dominated by a real and genuine concern about the missing children — those who are at risk of exploitation, trafficking and various other aspects of mischief."
Keir Starmer
Last month, Tory MPs voted down a plan – spearheaded by Labour peer and Kindertransport refugee Alf Dubs – to accept 3,000 child refugees stranded in Europe.
But Dubs tabled a fresh amendment to the immigration bill calling for a "specified number" to be allowed, rather than 3,000. That plan has been accepted by the government, after growing unrest from Conservative backbenchers.
Brokenshire said the resettlement scheme would only apply to children in camps in France, Greece and Italy who were registered in the EU before 20 March. Talks are under way with those countries as well as charities and councils before final plans are announced.
"An arbitrary quota is not the correct approach," Brokenshire said. "It has no regard to existing pressures currently faced by local authorities who last year alone took charge of 3,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who had made their way here."
Tory MP Sir Gerald Howarth, a former minister, warned that accepting child refugees from Europe was "cruel" and "dangerous". He said: "The policy is cruel because it will encourage desperate, tragic parents to send their children across the inhospitable seas of the Mediterranean in search of a better life."
He said ministers had been forced into a U-turn by Tory MPs "who have felt it necessary to parade their compassion".
"I do not believe the amendment to be a compassionate move," he added. "It sends out a very dangerous signal, encouraging parents to dispose of their children and put them at risk on the high seas, which is deeply dangerous."
LINK: David Cameron Bows To Pressure For UK To Accept More Child Refugees
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