The loss of family reunion rights will lead to enormous suffering for child refugees | Harriet Grant

I've interviewed those seeking safe passage to the UK: their plight was obvious, their stories shocking

Last night the government voted against attempts to protect the right of unaccompanied child asylum seekers to join family in the UK. Only six Conservative MPs rebelled to support the amendment, put forward by former child refugee Lord Dubs, that would have enshrined the legal right to family reunion for child refugees after the UK leaves the EU at the end of the year.

It's hard to emphasise the immeasurable loss that this vote will impose on thousands of families in the years to come. Over the past few years I've interviewed young people trying to reach their relatives in the UK and families here desperate to get children and young people to safety. The suffering was always enormous, consuming every minute of their day.