Newbury MP – Claim that Government is closing the door to child refugees 'manifestly wrong'
Laura Farris and MEP Judith Bunting speak on Brexit Day
NEWBURY’S new MP Laura Farris has said that Conservatives voting down amendments to allow child refugees to be reunited with their families has been “misunderstood”.
The UK is set to leave the EU at 11pm tonight (Friday), three years after the referendum, and this will usher in a transition period until December where the UK and EU set out their future relationship.
Mrs Farris, who backed the Withdrawal Bill after replacing former Newbury MP Richard Benyon in December, said: "I said all the way through the campaign that although I voted to remain, I accepted the result and I would support the Prime Minister’s deal.
"I was always consistent that I was going to vote it through when it came back to Parliament if I was elected."
When asked how confident she was of the Government securing a deal, Mrs Farris said: "I think the Withdrawal Bill sets us up for a free trade agreement. I feel confident that the Prime Minister and his team will get a deal agreed by the end of the year."
The Withdrawal Bill cleared Parliament after the Government overturned five amendments from the House of Lords, including one that would have restored the right of unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with their families.
The amendment was rejected by 342 votes to 254. Mrs Farris voted for the bill.
The Government has said it will continue to grant asylum and support refugees fleeing persecution, with the ultimate aim of helping them to return home if safe to do so.
Mrs Farris said that the issue surrounding child refugees had been "misunderstood as the Conservative Government closing the door to child refugees, that’s manifestly wrong".
She said: "What the Government was saying was that the issue should not be included in primary legislation that deals with our withdrawal from the EU.
"I’ve been told that it’s going to be debated as part of the Immigration Bill."
Mr Farris said she had dealt with refugee cases in her a job as barrister before she was elected MP last month.
She said: “I support the principle of family unity and I want to reassure you that there already is, and will remain, a comprehensive framework for refugees and their families to be safely reunited in the UK.
"The family reunion provisions (under Dublin III), were only relevant to a tiny minority, and only to children who were already in the care system of other European countries.
"Having previously practiced as a barrister in immigration law, I saw vulnerabilities that had appeared because the law gave families a right to reunion in the UK that they would not otherwise have had."
Mrs Farris said that had been too many cases of young people being brought to the UK to be linked up with a distant relative, where they became an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child and placed in the UK care system.
"Under the arrangements that the EU has in place with Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, those children often had a real prospect of reuniting with either their parents or at least a close relative in the system in one of those countries," she said.
"It is extremely rare that the 'best interest' test is met by being accommodated by a distant relative in the UK rather than being reunited with their parents who may be in a refugee camp in Jordan or Turkey.
"The UK can therefore prioritise just arrangements that minimise the risks to children, and Clause 37 of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill opens the possibility of more compassionate and more pragmatic arrangements in the future."
Meanwhile, Newbury's Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East of England, Judith Bunting, used her final speech in the European Parliament to attack the British Government for negotiating a deal that is “fundamentally bad for Britain”.
In her speech, which took place during the European Parliament debate on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, Ms Bunting said: “I love the UK, and I will do everything I can to ensure our future, whatever that is, is bright and successful. However, this is a bad deal for Britain, and the fault for that lies at the feet of the British Government.
“The deal takes Britain outside of the Customs Union and the single market and weakens support for workers’ rights.”
Ms Bunting, education spokesperson in Europe for the Lib Dems, thanked the work undertaken by the likes of Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt, though insisted that she would not be forced into voting for a deal she viewed as detrimental to the future and prosperity of the UK.
She said: “I thank all of my colleagues here. We will miss you. Thank you to the Brexit Steering Group for the huge amount of work you’ve put into this deal. However, I will not be blackmailed by Boris Johnson into supporting a deal that is fundamentally bad for Britain.”
Ms Bunting's speech can be viewed here: https://twitter.com/LibDems/status/1222587714400333824