Visa rules are FINALLY eased for Ukrainian refugees as Priti Patel caves into pressure and allows them to apply to enter UK without visiting a processing centre after Tory infighting over the Government’s response
- Priti Patel today announced that she is easing visa rules for Ukrainian refugees
- Ukrainians with a passport will no longer have to attend visa application centre
- Application process for passport-holders will be entirely online from Tuesday
- Only applies to Ukrainians applying to come to UK under family reunion route
- David Cameron has called for the UK to be ‘generous’ to Ukrainian refugees
Tory infighting over help for Ukrainian refugees escalated today as David Cameron called for the UK to be ‘generous’ and an MP faced a backlash for suggesting those fleeing the war should stay in ‘frontline’ countries.
The former PM said the slow progress in granting visas to Ukrainians was ‘incredibly frustrating’ and ‘we’ve got to get this done’.
Mr Cameron suggested visa rules could be relaxed to allow people to come to the UK if they just have a Ukrainian passport.
Meanwhile, Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski was accused by Conservative colleague Simon Hoare of spouting ‘utterly risible, illiterate, immoral and offensive bile’ over Ukrainian refugees.
Mr Kawczynski claimed ‘British left-wing parties’ are making ‘illiterate and immoral’ demands for the UK to accept more people fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham argued that Britain should support Ukraine’s neighbours because ‘Ukrainians will need to return home to rebuild their country’ when the war is over.
But Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, told Mr Kawczynski he does ‘not speak for the Tory Party’.
David Cameron called for the UK to be ‘generous’ and said the slow progress in granting visas to Ukrainians was ‘incredibly frustrating’ and ‘we’ve got to get this done’
Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski was accused by Conservative colleague Simon Hoare of spouting ‘utterly risible, illiterate, immoral and offensive bile’ over Ukrainian refugees
Mr Kawczynski claimed ‘British left-wing parties’ are making ‘illiterate and immoral’ demands for the UK to accept more people fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion
The Government continues to face a mounting backlash over the speed and scale of its response to the refugee crisis.
Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel are under growing pressure, including from Kyiv and Tory MPs, to rapidly increase the number of Ukrainians being welcomed into safety in the UK.
Despite more than 2.1 million people having fled Ukraine, according to UN estimates, the latest figures from Downing Street say Britain has granted just 957 visas.
Defence minister James Heappey hinted this morning that the Government could back down to relax visa requirements to make it easier for more people to come to the UK.
The Government announced on Tuesday this week that former Tory MP Richard Harrington was being given a peerage to allow him to become the new Minister for Refugees.
Mr Cameron was grilled about the visa situation last night during an interview on LBC Radio.
He said: ‘Well, I know what it’s like when, as Prime Minister, you want something to happen, you say something should happen.
‘And we should be generous, and it doesn’t happen. It’s incredibly frustrating.
‘I think the Prime Minister took a very good step in appointing Richard Harrington as a special minister to deal with refugees.
‘This is what I did, exactly the same person. With the Syrian refugees, we had a programme to allow 25,000 people in, to find them from the camps.
‘I asked Richard to get it done. He was brilliant at it. And I’m sure he will on this. And I hope he is allowed to say, well, if we want to go short of visas, if it’s just Ukrainian passports, and perhaps something else, let’s find the way to get it done, I would put my trust in him and give him the ability.’
Asked if he would also put his trust in Ms Patel, Mr Cameron said: ‘I’m not here to pick apart different people in the government I’ve tried to avoid that in my post-office life.
‘But we’ve got to get this done. And the Prime Minister wants it done. And I’m sure it will be.’
His comments came as Tory MPs clashed over the UK’s response to the exodus of people from Ukraine.
Mr Kawczynski tweeted: ‘British Left wing parties demand Britain takes in more Ukrainian refugees. This is illiterate and immoral.
‘When war is over Ukrainians will need to return home to rebuild their country. We should be supporting Ukrainian refugees in frontline states like Poland & Romania.’
Mr Kawczynski later deleted the tweet.
Fellow Tory MP Simon Hoare accused his Conservative colleague of spouting ‘utterly risible, illiterate, immoral and offensive bile’
Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel are under growing pressure, including from Kyiv and his own Tory MPs, to rapidly increase the number of Ukrainians being welcomed into safety in the UK
But Mr Hoare tweeted in response: ‘What utterly risible, illiterate, immoral and offensive bile. Haven’t you heard what @BorisJohnson has been saying?
‘You do not speak for the Tory Party. I’m not sure you speak for humanity #whitehotfury.’
The Government has put in place two routes for Ukrainian refugees to come to the UK.
The first is a family reunion route which allows British nationals and Ukrainians living in the UK to bring their relatives to Britain.
The second is a ‘humanitarian sponsorship pathway’ which will allow individuals, charities and business groups to offer to sponsor Ukrainian citizens with no family ties to the UK so they can come to Britain.
The first scheme is up and running but the second is yet to be launched. It was announced last week but ministers still have not published the full details of how it will work.
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