DORSET campaigners are urging the Government to maintain an EU policy whereby family members of asylum seekers are relocated to the UK.

The campaigners say they want to see migrants protected from people smugglers and dangerous Channel crossings.

The Government is seeking to stop the 'family reunions' policy, after the Brexit transition period.

According to Judith Williams, a Poole supporter of Safe Passage – a charity helping refugee children to transfer legally from Europe – this will increase the chance of children attempting unsafe ways to reach the UK, or remaining at risk in refugee camps.

She said: “The government says it wants to reduce the numbers of people crossing the Channel, but if children and separated families cannot access family reunion, they are going to have no choice but to risk their lives.”

Head of UK Legal at Safe Passage International Jennine Walker said: “It is disastrous that the government is not preserving a legal route that has protected people from smugglers and traffickers, by giving them a safe way to reach their relatives and start rebuilding their lives. It is dangerous and illogical to expect a child to sleep rough in Calais when they have a parent, sibling, aunt or uncle here in the UK.”

Dorset clergy, including the Bishops of Sherborne and Salisbury and the Roman Catholic Dean of Dorset, are among more than 250 faith leaders who have called on Boris Johnson to retain the policy.

The signatories say they have as yet received no response from the Prime Minister.

North Dorset resident Bernard Sullivan claimed letters written to Dorset MPs on the issue by supporters had gone unanswered.

Judith added: “Dorset and BCP Councils are among many local authorities who have already pledged support for child refugees. Both councils have already promised three places a year for unaccompanied children for the next 10 years.

"Unfortunately, the Government has not taken up these offers.”

The Government has said current immigration law is "rigid, inflexible and abused by migrants and activist lawyers".

Last week the Government's Immigration Bill suffered a set-back defeat in the House of Lords, with an amendment tabled to retain the family reunion rules.

So far this year some 7,000 migrants are thought to have reached the UK illegally by crossing the Channel, often in dangerous conditions.