“David Cameron said ministers would talk to local councils about how many more they can re-settle.”
I can save him a phone call to my local authority. Their answer (and they are Tory controlled) will be none, zero, zilch. They have a housing waiting list that means most people (except those with no money, nowhere to live, no job, no prospect of a job and who have multitudinous children) will wait many years for social housing. They have a chronic lack of carers and foster parents. Oh, and a distinct lack of money. My Council Tax has just increased by the magic figure of 3.99% because they have insufficient funds for “social care” (which I suppose includes looking after lone child refugees).
“This was the right thing to do. Turning our backs on desperate children is an embarrassment.”
Then the correct strategy would be to heap embarrassment where it belongs – on France. These children are not in war torn Syria. They are in France, a civilised country where people from the UK go for holidays and day trips. Imagine the situation reversed. The UK was continuing to hold child refugees in squalid conditions. What would France do? Take them in or make a fuss about the squalor the UK was providing for them? You only have one guess.