Extract from Commons
debate on Unaccompanied Children (Greece and Italy)
(Carshalton and Wallington)
(LD): Would the hon. Lady, like me and I am sure other
Members, like to know from the Government how many people have
been allowed to come under the equivalent of the Canada
sponsorship scheme? As I understand it, so far two people have
been accommodated under that scheme.
(Wirral South)
(Lab): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his
question, which, again, the Minister must answer today.
:...I was referring to
the Canadian sponsorship scheme. A similar scheme for community
groups was supposed to have been set up in the UK, under which, I
understand, the royal total of two people have been able to come.
The Minister for Immigration (Mr Robert
Goodwill): I met Canadian representatives when visiting
refugee camps in Jordan. We have measures in place, as part of
the scheme for the 20,000, to enable community groups to take
people to come here. Under the Dublin proposals, if grandparents
can show that they can care for children, those children can come
here from another EU country. Those children must, of course,
claim asylum in the first safe country they reach...
...Our work in Calais shows that there were only a handful
of children from Syria. I note that the motion talks specifically
about children from Syria, and indeed the hon. Member for Wirral
South (Alison McGovern) talked about children fleeing Aleppo and
other horrible situations in Syria. Would she therefore be
surprised to know that, of the 750 children who came from Calais
during the clearance, fewer than 10 came from Syria? That is why
I believe we are doing the right thing by going to the refugee
camps and working with the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees to roll out similar schemes to the ones that the
Australians, the Canadians and the Americans were
delivering to enable those children in the most need to come to
the UK...
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Extract from DUP led
debate on Armed Forces: Historical Cases
(Ealing North)
(Lab):...Far be it from me to further impugn the
reputation of , but the temptation is
there, and it cannot be denied that he was the Minister who came
up with the idea. I have to say that those of us here have our
own share of responsibility for not making more of an issue of it
at the time. I think we can begin to understand why it was so
attractive in Stormont at that time. I also see from today’s
Times that Mr Huhne is now the European chairman of
“a US supplier of wood pellets.”
I leave those words hanging in the air, slowly smouldering in the
Drax power station, as tons and tons of Canadian forest are
chipped up, pelleted and brought over here...
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