UK: 'I’m disgusted': readers respond to MPs vote against accepting 3,000 child refugees

[umbertino]

We asked you to send us your messages for the government after MPs voted against offering sanctuary to thousands of Syrian child refugees

Sarah Marsh and Guardian readers

Tuesday 26 April 2016 13.01 BST

 

MPs have rejected an amendment to the immigration bill, which would have compelled the government to offer sanctuary in the UK to 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees from Europe. It’s a move that has prompted a strong response from our readers, many who have expressed outrage. Below we’ve gathered their messages for government.

‘Have we forgotten these are children escaping a war zone?’

I’m furious, livid and enraged by the MPs vote. I could look up all the synonyms for angry in the dictionary; they’d all apply. It is the complete lack of empathy that strikes me the most. These are children severely at risk from a war zone. Does the fact that they have nothing, that they are Syrian, or perhaps Muslim mean they should mean less to us? Absolutely not. Rebecca Wenmoth, 17, Yorkshire

‘The Conservatives should hang their head in shame’

I feel very angry that my views are not represented by my local MP, yet again. MPs who voted against these amendments know full well that 10,000 missing children have been trafficked and sold to goodness only knows what fate. They should therefore explain why they are abandoning 3,000 more? The Conservative government should hang their heads in shame (bar the five rebels). Debbie Harris, 48, Sussex

‘Each refugee who is abused stands as a silent testimony to our refusal to help those in need’

Once more our nation has failed the test of compassion and generosity. Each unaccompanied refugee child who is trafficked, abused or killed as a result of this shameful decision, stands as silent testimony to our refusal to fulfil our obligations towards those most vulnerable and in need. Last year our church raised over £1,500 in support of the bishop of Chelmsford’s Syrian refugee fund. We also collect food and other items for those living in the so-called “jungle” and other refugee camps in France. We remain committed to serving those in need as a practical expression of our faith and I believe these are the Christian values we are called to live out as individuals, churches and as a society. Philip Ritchie, 56, Essex

‘This is a very sad day – how can MPs sleep at night?’

I am disgusted, heartbroken and ashamed that our government could turn their backs on such vulnerable children. We commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, yet when faced with a humanitarian crisis of today our country will forever be known as the ones that turned their back on innocents facing persecution. This is a very sad day and I am not sure how those MPs can sleep at night. The apathy is unbelievable. I visited the jungle camp in Calais last year and I found it extremely difficult to contemplate the vastness of this crisis. You would have to have a heart of stone to not be deeply affected when seeing children wet, cold and sleeping in bin liners. But I didn’t need to go there to understand that the fifth richest country in the world needs to step up and help such vulnerable people. Thomas O’Connor, 31, London

‘We have created a world that allows children to die, that penalises the poor and allows businesses to commit mass ecocide’

It’s truly shocking that members of a civilised society can abandon 3,000 children to their fate. My parents would have been devastated. My father was a Normandy veteran and my mother was an enemy plane spotter. They believed their contribution to the war effort had helped create a society that genuinely cared for people and protected the most vulnerable.

We have created a world that allows children to die, that penalises the poor and allows businesses to commit mass ecocide.

Their actions are destructive and dangerous. They are leading to an extreme polarisation of society where one half of the population is terrified by immigrants and the other half watches in horror at the government’s callous behaviour. They are setting up a highly volatile situation.

The whole planet will be affected by this. We can no longer separate ourselves from the rest of the world. Everything is connected. Kate Swinden, 61, Bridlington

‘What kind of society do we have in Britain?’

These are innocent children whose lives have been torn apart by war. This should be reason enough to take them in and help them to rebuild their lives. Their background or ethnicity should not matter. We are a rich country who has the ability to take in these children, we did it during the second world war, why not now? What kind of society do you believe Great Britain to be? A place which happily accepts defenceless children whose lives have been torn apart by war, or one who rejects them out of fear and ignorance? Sophie Anderton, 26, London

‘The western world has become so fat with wealth that we have lost all humanity’

I think it is unacceptable to refuse to aid these vulnerable children. The western world has become so fat with wealth that we have lost all humanity. If those MPs who voted against the amendment could put themselves in the shoes of a refugee, how would they feel if it was their child, their family, or their country that they had been forced for flee? I am ashamed to be British at this moment. Elle Baines, 24, Bristol

‘The decision has once again brought Britain into disrepute’

I am ashamed of our reputation for a lack of humanity and outright discrimination – against disabled people, expressing enthusiasm for withdrawing from the European Convention of Human Rights and many other positions taken. This is a disgrace. Those who voted against should be ashamed of themselves. The decision has once again brought Britain into disrepute. Since the Conservatives won the last election they have consistently taken away from the most vulnerable in our society, now condemning children to the dangers of trafficking. Who can possibly object to giving a home to unaccompanied refugees? Chris Jones, 67, Coventry

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‘Once more our nation has failed the test of compassion and generosity.’

Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/26/im-disgusted-people-respond-to-mps-vote-against-accepting-3000-child-refugees

 

[Shabibilicious]

If any of those MP's find themselves out of work, come on over to America.......word is Trump is accepting VP applications.  

GO RV, then BV 

[SnowGlobe7]

I gave him your resume

[Shabibilicious]

3 minutes ago, SnowGlobe7 said:

I gave him your resume

Okay......but I refuse to use a fork when eating a hotdog, or sport orange spray tan, or......etc, etc.  

GO RV, then BV  

[SnowGlobe7]

Dude ...like I ab able to use a fork with these paws...but the orange spay tan

 

 

everyones doing it!!!

[Shabibilicious]

4 minutes ago, SnowGlobe7 said:

Dude ...like I ab able to use a fork with these paws...but the orange spay tan

 

 

everyones doing it!!!

Not sure if you misspelled that on purpose, but.......Bwhahahaha.  

GO RV, then BV

[Texstorm]

I might remind y'all that even baby rattlers grow up to be dangerous ! My point being if our own system can't seem to fix all of our own countries orphans, what in the hell are we going do with a little ISIS's when they don't fit in ?

[Shabibilicious]

OMG  

GO RV, then BV

[Jim1cor13]

34 minutes ago, Texstorm said:

I might remind y'all that even baby rattlers grow up to be dangerous ! My point being if our own system can't seem to fix all of our own countries orphans, what in the hell are we going do with a little ISIS's when they don't fit in ?

There would be NO problems if we were not blowing up their country and destroying their homes.

The rest of what you stated deserves no comment and is a sad reflection of how the propaganda campaign

continues to work.

 

Thanks Umbert for the post. What a sad state of affairs.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Jim1cor13

[Texstorm]

I might remind you that if their country was worth saving there would be no need to blow the bastards to hell ! You see a picture of one dissident child and and all of a sudden you don't think that what the USA is doing is right. May be you could adopt a couple of these refugee children for your own. 

[Shabibilicious]

8 minutes ago, Texstorm said:

I might remind you that if their country was worth saving there would be no need to blow the bastards to hell ! You see a picture of one dissident child and and all of a sudden you don't think that what the USA is doing is right. May be you could adopt a couple of these refugee children for your own. 

No point adopting if quivering fear-mongers won't allow them in the country.  As always, just my opinion.  

GO RV, then BV

[Jim1cor13]

20 minutes ago, Texstorm said:

I might remind you that if their country was worth saving there would be no need to blow the bastards to hell ! You see a picture of one dissident child and and all of a sudden you don't think that what the USA is doing is right. May be you could adopt a couple of these refugee children for your own. 

You think my statement is based upon seeing "one dissident child"? One?

Let me ask you something...what do you actually KNOW about Syria? Do you know they

are a secular country? Have you ever communicated with Syrians? I have, because I like

to get both sides of a story instead of propaganda. Perhaps it is just easier to accept and

believe the lies told to you and continue to hide behind them instead of actually making an effort

to understand WHY Syria became a target and then tell me you think they are "not worth saving"

and that we are honorable in "blowing the bastards to hell". Amazing....

 

[Texstorm]

Jim I'm sorry I really don't give a rats tail about Syria or the propaganda or the muslims, anymore than they care about us. I might add that I have had family and friends in the military over in the Middle East since the first Gulf War, including Afghanistan. I guess prospective is a matter of which side of the line you are on, when the lines are drawn. 

[gymrat76541]

There is the rub. These countries are not & will not be friendly towards Western countries!

They hate us! So please tell me why I should feel differently about them?

Do not waste my time telling me it's because we are better then they are!

[Texstorm]

9 minutes ago, gymrat76541 said:

There is the rub. These countries are not & will not be friendly towards Western countries!

They hate us! So please tell me why I should feel differently about them?

Do not waste my time telling me it's because we are better then they are!

Agreed GR ! I just don't understand why they even want to come here in the first place, unless they have ulterior motives.  

[Sentinel7]

They saw what happened here in the US three thousand unaccompanied refugees quickly becomes plus six thousand parents that come a week behind the children.

Then comes the uncles, aunts and grand parents. all because we cannot break up families

The UK was smart

The only America will get that kind of smarts is to Make America Great Again

 

                    No Surrender No Retreat and No Compromise

[Shabibilicious]

14 hours ago, gymrat76541 said:

There is the rub. These countries are not & will not be friendly towards Western countries!

They hate us! So please tell me why I should feel differently about them?

Do not waste my time telling me it's because we are better then they are!

I'm surprised to hear you don't believe America is better than Syria.  

GO RV, then BV