Ruth Cadbury MP blasts Government over the removal of protections for child refugees.

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After the Government voted down efforts to guarantee protections child refugees in the Brexit Withdrawal Bill Ruth Cadbury MP has blasted the Government for its ''outrageous cruelty'' over child refugees.

MPs voted 348-252 against an amendment which would have guaranteed the right of unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with family living in the UK. A provision protecting the rights of child refugees was previously in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement agreed by Theresa May but this provision was removed from the new Brexit Withdrawal Bill put forward by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking after the vote Ruth Cadbury MP said,''This is an act of outrageous cruelty which has stripped out key protections for child refugees. These are the most vulnerable children in our society, many of whom are fleeing war, persecution and violence.

I voted for an amendment that would have restored these protections however it was sadly defeated by Government MPs. The UK has a proud history of accepting and welcoming refugees - including the Kindertransport where thousands of Jewish children were rescued and brought to the UK in the 1930s. In Hounslow we've seen first-hand the amazing support that the community have given to refugee families who've moved here and I know that people want to see the UK doing so much more.

That's why the Government need to put these legal protections back in place and protect these vulnerable child refugees. ''