At least 25 local councils, including Eindhoven, Amsterdam and Utrecht, have thrown their weight behind a campaign to win residency permits for refugee children.

The initiative from left-wing green party Groenlinks is aimed at supporting draft legislation drawn up by the Labour party and ChristenUnie. The two parties want children who have lived in the Netherlands for at least eight years to be given a residency permit.
The effort to allow refugee children to stay follows the case of Mauro Manuel, the 18-year-old Angolan boy who is faced with deportation even though he arrived in the Netherlands as an unaccompanied asylum seeker when he was 10.
According to the NRC, the PvdA and ChristenUnie are not happy about the GroenLinks initiative, saying it could weaken support for their draft bill. In particular, the backing of the Christian Democrats is crucial to winning a majority.
The CDA is divided about the status of child refugees and its MPs voted against giving Manuel a permanent right to stay.