Starmer wants red tape ripped up so he can house refugees from war-torn Ukraine
Sir Keir Starmer has labelled the UK Government “too mean” over its handling of the Ukraine refugee crisis as Britain’s longest-running hosting charity confirmed none of the 483 applicants it is working with have yet been granted a community sponsor visa.
Glasgow-based refugee homelessness charity, Positive Action in Housing, said the Government was putting people's lives at risk by "forcing refugees to wait in war zones for visas".
The Labour leader said the Government had got its response to the refugee scheme “completely wrong”.
Sir Keir, who indicated he would not be able to offer a home to a Ukrainian refugee because of “practical issues” linked to his political role, told LBC radio: “They’ve still got this DIY package really, which is all over the place, where we hear the refugees who were supposed to be on their way here still haven’t got visas and clearance.”
He added: “I have been incredibly struck by the generosity of the British public in terms of the thousands upon thousands of people that are going to take, or have offered to take, in a refugee."
The Home Office has now granted 21,600 visas to Ukrainians with family links in the UK, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that as of 5pm Sunday, 76,200 applications had been opened through the family route, of which 37,400 had been completed and submitted.
But Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, which pioneered Room for Refugees, the oldest and longest established refugee hosting programme in the UK, said the forms to apply for refugee visas through the Homes for Ukraine scheme were “tortuous and confusing, with no guideline”.
She said: “In the past week, we have been triaging 483 Ukrainian families, young people and unaccompanied minors asking for help to find a sponsor who will also shelter them. Many remain in war zones. The stories are beyond heart-breaking. We are being forced to assess and triage refugees out of war zones while risk checking hosts."
Ms Qureshi added: “The UK Government is doubly endangering the lives of Ukrainians trying to flee the war by forcing desperate people – families, young people and unaccompanied minors – first by forcing refugees to wait in war zones for visas and secondly by leaving them to turn in desperation to strangers on social media for sponsors.” She warned that the scheme, which outside Scotland requires refugees to guarantee a home with a Uk-based host themselves, could put people at risk.
Ms Qureshi said: “Unaccompanied minors, young women, women with young children, have told us they met someone on social media who offered to be a sponsor under Homes for Ukraine. A Ukrainian mother said she was sending her teenage sons, one of whom is autistic, alone to make the journey to the UK from Ukraine.
The Scottish Government has become a “super sponsor”; refugees can come to Scotland under the Scottish Government and be matched with a host once they arrive.