A U-TURN by David Cameron on accepting more unaccompanied child refugees has been welcomed by the Scottish Refugee Council.

The Prime Minister moved to head off a damaging Tory backbench revolt, signalling that the Government will now accept an additional number of unaccompanied refugee children fleeing the conflict in Syria. He announced ministers would no longer seek to overturn a Lords amendment requiring the UK to re-settle a “specified” number of children amid warnings it faced defeat if it went to a vote in the Commons.

Gary Christie, head of policy and communications at Scottish Refugee Council, said: “We welcome the Government’s change of heart about making sure Britain welcomes refugee children. It’s a step in the right direction to ensure David Cameron is on the right side of history when we look back at this refugee crisis.”

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Cameron gave no indication as to how many children who had succeeded in reaching Europe would now be admitted, although officials indicated the numbers would run to “more than tens”.

While Cameron said ministers were holding talks with local authorities and the charity Save the Children about what assistance they could offer, he stressed he would not take any steps which would encourage more people to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.

But with no exact figures, campaigners who had been pressing the Government to take up to 3,000 children from camps such as the notorious Jungle in Calais reacted cautiously to the announcement.

Labour peer Lord Dubs – a former child refugee who fled from the Nazis and who tabled the Lords amendment – said it would ease the plight of some children.

“I trust the Prime Minister will be true to his word and move swiftly to ensure the Home Office works closely with local authorities to find foster families to give these young people a stable and secure home,” he said.

Cameron’s U-turn on refugees was driven by pressure from – among others – the SNP. But you wouldn’t have known it from the BBC News at Six last night.

The Prime Minister announced the Government’s change in policy in response to a question from Angus Robertson. It was the second week in a row the SNP’s Westminster leader had pushed the Government on the issue.

But when Laura Kuessenburg, the BBC’s political editor, was telling us what had prompted the shift, she said: “It was a victory for those who had been pushing the Prime Minister for months: Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, campaigners.”

They then showed footage of Labour’s Yvette Cooper from LAST week’s PMQs. Robertson, of course, was conspicuous by his absence.