UK changes rules on child refugees

Polling reveals swing in public attitudes as government closes door to child migrants

Immigration

The British government has been accused of “turning its back” on vulnerable youngsters after quietly announcing that unaccompanied child refugees will no longer be given sanctuary in the UK.

Until now, ministers have been legally required to grant asylum to children arriving in the UK under the terms of an amendment made by David Cameron’s government to an EU law in 2016, amid a flood of refugees arriving in Europe from war-torn Syria.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.