Furious Theresa May slaps down Archbishop of Canterbury after he quoted Jesus to condemn end of child refugee scheme

FURIOUS Theresa May slapped down the Archbishop of Canterbury today after he quoted Jesus to condemn the end of a child refugee scheme.

The Most Rev Justin Welby joined a chorus of disapproval over the Government’s decision to scrap plans to bring in up to 3,000 Middle Eastern refugees stranded in Europe.

The so-called ‘Dubs’ scheme will be limited to just 350.

But the Prime Minister – a vicar’s daughter - insisted the Government’s strategy was “absolutely right”.

She said thousands of children were coming to the UK direct from camps on the border of war-torn Syria. And she pointed out the UK had pledged £2.3 billion in financial support and humanitarian aid.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference she said: “We have been seeing quite a number of children and families being resettled here in the United Kingdom.

“I think what we are doing in terms of refugees is absolutely right.”

The Archbishop said the Government’s decision – slipped out in a Ministerial statement on Wednesday afternoon – had “saddened and shocked” him.

And he said: “Jesus commands us to care for the most vulnerable among us.”

Ex-PM David Cameron agreed to take vulnerable refugees from Calais after huge pressure from Labour peer Alf Dubs and his own backbenchers last year.

But Home Secretary Amber Rudd yesterday that taking children from France acted as a “draw” for others to try and make the perilous journey across Europe.

She insisted the French wanted the scheme to end – and insisted councils didn’t have the space.

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott stormed: “How does she live with herself, leaving thousands of children subject to disease, people trafficking, squalor and hopelessness?”

Lord Dubs said he was “slightly puzzled” the Government was closing the scheme down “arbitrarily without any good reason for doing so”.