MADAM,

I do hope you will allow me to reply to the three responses elicited last week by my letter (Whose views does David Davies represent, 26th October) about the statements on child refugees from our local MP.

Refugee children across Europe are not safe and remain vulnerable to disease, trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse. 10,000 children have already gone missing.

Some may be given sanctuary in Britain because they have relatives already living in this country. Others may be granted asylum on humanitarian grounds, under the Dubs Amendment to the Immigration Act, which the government initially strongly opposed.

These simple and very limited measures are still too much for David Davies and your correspondents, who try to undermine them.

No wonder some of the children are covering their heads in the face of such suspicion, intrusion and hostility.

The suggestion that Britain’s Immigration Officers are suddenly some sort of ‘soft touch’ is very surprising indeed.

The British Dental Association dismisses the idea of dental x-rays on the children as potentially harmful, unethical and unreliable, even this government dismisses the idea.

Quibbling about ages only serves to fuel resentment, stigmatise migrants and fosters a climate of fear and resentment which serves to diminish us all.

I remain convinced that the overwhelming majority of Monmouthshire people are compassionate and fair minded.

Peter Short

(Monmouth)