The vote at the House of Commons finished with 294 against and 276 in favor, in a session in which the conservative majority's stance of rejecting the changes to the immigration law in force prevailed.
The most used justification by those who object the amendment was that according to their perspective, accepting refugees that arrived illegally in the European Union (EU) was an incentive to the mafias devoted to human trafficking from countries at war, such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, some conservative deputies, as Stephen Phillips, appeared more receptive to the issue and requested, unsuccessfully, the approval of the amendment, because exceptional times need exceptional measures, they said.
“Those children are already in Europe, they are alone, far from their families, they are cold, scared and many times, they do not have access to those who want to protect them,” Phillips said.
Meanwhile, immigration spokesman Keir Starmer strongly criticized the Government's final decision and said "we can not turn our back on these vulnerable children in Europe. History will judge us for that," he added.
sgl/iom/mgt/deg
PL-68/MNA