I am delighted to give my support to this collection, Unaccompanied young migrants: identity, care and justice, written and edited by leading advocates and experts on this topic in law, social sciences and social work, social geography, media and psychotherapy. I would like to share some thoughts on the current climate in Europe and beyond, to underline why this new, and holistic, analysis is so important at the current time.

From 1938 and 1940 Britain accepted almost 10,000 children from Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia in the Kindertransport mobilisation. I know – I was one of them. This operation almost certainly saved our lives, as we would not have survived the Nazi regime otherwise. Prior to this, in 1937 Britain rescued almost 4,000 Basque children from the Spanish civil war, most of them orphaned after the bombing of Guernica. Local people built a tent settlement on Eastleigh Common in Hampshire, and the children were enthusiastically looked after there by local people of every age, class and political persuasion. The children went on to be fostered all over the UK. Many were later repatriated, while those with no-one to go back to made their lives here.

This offering of sanctuary to vulnerable children and young people, victims of war or persecution, is part of Britain's great humanitarian tradition of which we should be very proud. It was in this same humanitarian spirit that I responded to the recent refugee crisis in Europe by proposing in 2016 an Amendment to the UK Immigration Bill, committing the UK to admit vulnerable migrant children from the tens of thousands stranded in Europe – especially those in France, Greece and Italy. Fortunately the Amendment was passed despite initial resistance from the government. However the government subsequently and arbitrarily capped the numbers at 480 – and there have been, and still are, lengthy delays in the children coming here to the UK.

What has changed, and why the lack of welcome? We in Britain currently live under a government with a declared policy to create a ‘hostile environment’ for those seeking asylum. And all of us are subject to the negative stereotyping of refugees as criminal and aliens, from politicians and sections of the press.