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| Version 21 | Version 22 |
|---|---|
| UK has taken nearly 200 child refugees from Calais camp, Rudd says – live | UK has taken nearly 200 child refugees from Calais camp, Rudd says – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 6.04pm BST | |
| 18:04 | |
| Luciana Berger, the Labour MP, says social workers managing the children have told her of a “bureaucratic shambles” with wrong names and addresses given out and the wrong forms submitted. | |
| Rudd says that it is unfortunate but the government does not always have the information it needs. One of the reasons some Dublin children have not been brought over is that it is hard to determine where close family members are living in the UK. | |
| This can be a complicated process. It is not always the case that contacts we have been given are straight-forward to follow-up. | |
| Updated | |
| at 6.04pm BST | |
| 5.55pm BST | |
| 17:55 | |
| Rudd is asked about children who are older than 17, and says there are extensive checks on the ground under difficult circumstances. Critics, she says, need to bear with us. | |
| She stresses they have to be protected, despite some right-wing media criticism that the Home Office is covering their faces and erecting screens as they arrive. | |
| Some of these young people, particularly young women, are claimed by smugglers or traffickers to owe them money. They may come after them. We have to keep their identities secret. | |
| 5.51pm BST | |
| 17:51 | |
| The Labour MP Stella Creasy says she has details of 49 children under the age of 13 who charities told her were not able to register at the warehouse. She offers to share the details with Rudd. Three are under the age of 11, she says. Creasy also asks for assurances that children will not be put in detention centres. | |
| Rudd says she is surprised. “We are making sure children are looked after in a proper way that you would expect from a compassionate nation,” she says. | |
| We have 36 staff on the ground, Rudd says, and they are trying to find the youngest children. | |
| There is no ‘them and us’ feeling on the ground; we all have the same aims, we want to get the youngest children out, there is nothing but good will and good intent on this side. | |
| Updated | |
| at 5.54pm BST | |
| 5.47pm BST | |
| 17:47 | |
| Keith Vaz, the former chair of the home affairs select committee who resigned in a tabloid scandal over the summer, praises Cooper’s election to chair the committee, saying she will do an excellent job. | |
| Vaz says the responsibility for the state of the camp lies with France. “I don’t believe we in this country would have allowed the development of the camp in this way,” he says. | |
| The problem is going to be displaced to the hook of Holland and to Denmark, can she assure the House that our small ports and airports will get the security back-up they need? | |
| Rudd says this is a French problem, but it is in British interests. She says they are alive to the dangers of displacement and ports will be supported. | |
| Updated | |
| at 5.51pm BST | |
| 5.44pm BST | |
| 17:44 | |
| Peter Bone, the Conservative backbench MP, asks for a written statement from the Home Office each month to ensure young women brought over are properly protected, and not exploited by traffickers in the UK. | |
| Rudd says she understands the risk, and promises her department will update him. | |
| 5.42pm BST | |
| 17:42 | |
| Yvette Cooper, the former shadow home secretary, thanks Rudd for her commitment to taking more children. | |
| Cooper says the risks of trafficking and disappearance of children are a concern, and asks for the French government to ensure children, especially girls and young women, have appropriate social workers and youth volunteers to look after them in the container camps. Help Refugees, a charity in Calais, have raised concerns about this. | |
| Rudd says the French government has pledged to maintain a secure area of the camp for children and minors. She says she will make sure she contacts the French about the safety issue. | |
| 5.38pm BST | |
| 17:38 | |
| Rudd said lessons had been learned from the closure of the Sangatte camp in 2002, because other camps had been allowed to spring up since. | |
| Part of our funding commitment to the French is based on securing the camp as it is, once it has been closed. We want to make sure no future camp is erected there. | |
| Rudd said she believes that will go some way to deterring people from making dangerous journeys to the UK. | |
| Tory MP John Redwood asks about the arrests of traffickers, and Rudd says much more can be done in that regard, and it is one of the reason the UK wants to preserve the Le Touquet border agreement with France. | |
| The home secretary also pays tribute to volunteer groups, and says officials will need their help to gain the trust of those in the camp they are trying to help. | |
| Updated | |
| at 5.43pm BST | |
| 5.33pm BST | |
| 17:33 | |
| Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, is speaking now. She says the situation in Calais represents “everything that is wrong about Europe’s response to the crisis”. | |
| Abbott says the cooperation was too slow, and left people “at the mercy of people-smugglers and criminal gangs”, and that volunteers were the ones providing basic support and services. | |
| She says the Home Office has accelerated the process in recent weeks but the response was too slow. “We should have made it clear to the French that the camp should not have been demolished until all the children were safe,” she said. | |
| Abbott says the furore in the media over the age of the children was unacceptable, and were suggesting the children should be treated like “cattle having their teeth tested”. | |
| Rudd says that her points are important, and says she does not need reminding of the scale of misery. | |
| Protecting children has always been at the forefront, she says. Over the next three weeks the UK will bring over several hundred more children. | |
| Updated | |
| at 5.37pm BST | |
| 5.28pm BST | 5.28pm BST |
| 17:28 | 17:28 |
| Hinting at her disapproval of tabloid front pages that showed pictures of children arriving from Calais, Rudd said it was important that the identities of those arriving “were not compromised”. | |
| It’s crucial local authorities can manage the numbers coming here. It’s clear there is capacity to take the children from Calais as well as to meet our other commitments. | It’s crucial local authorities can manage the numbers coming here. It’s clear there is capacity to take the children from Calais as well as to meet our other commitments. |
| Rudd says there will be a need to identify further places for the children in the long-term. | Rudd says there will be a need to identify further places for the children in the long-term. |
| She also announces £56m of funding to ensure the clearance operation is “full and lasting”. | She also announces £56m of funding to ensure the clearance operation is “full and lasting”. |
| Updated | |
| at 5.31pm BST | |
| 5.25pm BST | 5.25pm BST |
| 17:25 | 17:25 |
| Rudd says UK officials have now interviewed 800 children, but the French government had previously requested that the UK did not transfer children without family links to Britain, which explains why campaigners had been frustrated at the delay. | Rudd says UK officials have now interviewed 800 children, but the French government had previously requested that the UK did not transfer children without family links to Britain, which explains why campaigners had been frustrated at the delay. |
| This was due to their concerns that it would encourage more children to come to Calais. That’s why we focussed our efforts on Greece and Italy, where we have 50 cases in progress. | This was due to their concerns that it would encourage more children to come to Calais. That’s why we focussed our efforts on Greece and Italy, where we have 50 cases in progress. |
| More children will arrive in the coming days and weeks, Rudd says. Three guiding principles will apply: prioritising those likely be granted asylum, the under-12s and those at a high risk of sexual exploitation. | More children will arrive in the coming days and weeks, Rudd says. Three guiding principles will apply: prioritising those likely be granted asylum, the under-12s and those at a high risk of sexual exploitation. |
| Rudd says it is important more children are not encouraged to come to Calais. | Rudd says it is important more children are not encouraged to come to Calais. |
| She says the UK would *only* consider those present in the camp before the start of the clearance today. | She says the UK would *only* consider those present in the camp before the start of the clearance today. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 5.27pm BST | at 5.27pm BST |
| 5.19pm BST | 5.19pm BST |
| 17:19 | 17:19 |
| Amber Rudd says nearly 200 children, including 60 girls, transferred to UK | Amber Rudd says nearly 200 children, including 60 girls, transferred to UK |
| The home secretary says the clearance of the camp is in the national interests of both Britain and France. She says it is an important step in ending the crisis, protecting the UK border and making sure people in the camp are safe. | The home secretary says the clearance of the camp is in the national interests of both Britain and France. She says it is an important step in ending the crisis, protecting the UK border and making sure people in the camp are safe. |
| Officials have been working with French counterparts to make sure children are protected, Rudd said. There is also good progress in transferring children to the UK who have close family links to the UK, she said. | Officials have been working with French counterparts to make sure children are protected, Rudd said. There is also good progress in transferring children to the UK who have close family links to the UK, she said. |
| We have transferred almost 200 children, 60 girls at high risk of sexual exploitation, Rudd says. | We have transferred almost 200 children, 60 girls at high risk of sexual exploitation, Rudd says. |
| This government has sought every opportunity to expedite the process to bring children to the UK. | This government has sought every opportunity to expedite the process to bring children to the UK. |
| My officials were only given access to the camp to interview children in the last week and we have only recently received agreement from the French government that we can bring Dubs Amendment children to the UK. | My officials were only given access to the camp to interview children in the last week and we have only recently received agreement from the French government that we can bring Dubs Amendment children to the UK. |
| Rudd says it had not been possible to do so before, without French agreement. | Rudd says it had not been possible to do so before, without French agreement. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 5.22pm BST | at 5.22pm BST |