WEST Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has defended her decision to vote down an amendment to protect child refugees.

Mrs Baldwin and fellow Conservative MPs voted against the so-called Dubs Amendment to the Withdrawal Bill, and she responded to criticism from former Labour PPC Samantha Charles.

She said she was proud of the government's work to protect children in places like Jordan and that the amendment would be better addressed in the upcoming Immigration Bill, adding: "The Government remains fully committed to the principle of family unity and to helping and supporting the most vulnerable children.

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"Despite suggestions by opposition politicians, Government policy has not changed on this matter – protecting vulnerable children remains a key priority and we have a proud record of doing so through our asylum system and our resettlement schemes.

“I have seen at first-hand how the resettlement scheme is working, helping young people build new futures in the county and I’ve also been briefed on the important work our international aid team does helping people in camps like those in Jordan.

"I’m proud of the way our Government and our country has acted on this issue and am keen to share the message that nothing has changed.”

Mrs Charles, who stood for Labour at the last election, had queried why Mrs Baldwin and her Conservative colleagues had voted against the amendment, saying: "I volunteered in the camps in Calais as a medic where I met many children without families and was one of the co-founders of People in Motion - a charity formed in 2016 to support refugees and displaced people.

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“The way we treat the most vulnerable people is a test of who we are, what kind of country we hope to live in and what humanity we have.

"The most vulnerable people imaginable are lone refugee children. Some are in refugee camps, but others on the streets or in woods where they are targeted by traffickers.

“I can think of little more frightening than to be a child in a foreign country with no family, unable to speak the language, sleeping rough. A small proportion of these refugee children hope to come to the UK because this is the only safe country where they have family. They have a connection here – perhaps the only relations they have.

“During the Second World War Britain was proud to give homes to 10,000 lone refugee children. Why has Harriett Baldwin signed away the legal rights of a few hundred children to be allowed to find their families here?”