The Guardian view on welcoming refugees from Ukraine: Britain must do more
Speaking on Sunday at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in London, Boris Johnson referenced the parable of the Good Samaritan, as he emphasised Britain’s solidarity with a people under vicious and sustained military assault. “We in the UK,” Mr Johnson told the congregation, “cannot shut our eyes and pass by on the other side.”
But when it comes to playing its part in mitigating the plight of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees seeking sanctuary in the west, the government is abjectly failing to live up to Mr Johnson’s rhetoric. The ongoing refusal to abandon visa restrictions for Ukrainians, as one of the gravest refugee crises since the second world war unfolds on European soil, cannot stand. It is at odds with the moral urgency of the moment, and utterly at odds with the mood of the country: according to the latest YouGov poll, more than six out of 10 Britons support safe routes to resettle those fleeing the Russian invasion, including a majority of both
Conservative and Labour voters.
According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), close to 400,000 Ukrainians have fled west, taking to the road in freezing temperatures. Most are women and children, forced to leave husbands and fathers behind to an uncertain fate. A large number will stay in central and eastern Europe: some will be able to lodge with relatives, others will be dependent on the kindness of strangers. But the UNHCR believes that 4.5 million desperate refugees could follow, if the war continues and intensifies. The whole continent must share and bear the weight of this humanitarian catastrophe, Britain included.
Invoking for the first time legislation passed after Balkan wars of the 1990s, the EU is set to offer those fleeing Mr Putin’s forces the right to live and work in the EU for up to three years. They will not be required to apply for asylum. The home secretary, Priti Patel, by contrast, reiterated on Monday her intention to stick to visa requirements for all but immediate family members of Ukrainians resident in Britain. The immigration minister, Kevin Foster, refused to apologise for a tweet – later deleted – in which he alerted those outside this narrow group to the merits of the government’s seasonal worker scheme application process. In the context of a vast human exodus in the bitter cold, this risible contribution summed up what has too often been the cruel default mode of a government which thinks
that compassion doesn’t pay politically. As the nationality and borders bill is debated in the House of Lords, representatives from Britain’s six major religions have called on Mr Johnson to abandon the plan to criminalise refugees arriving in Britain via irregular routes.
The Ukraine crisis requires a leap of moral imagination from ministers that is adequate to the extraordinary moment. Interviewed on Monday, the Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Tom Tugendhat, predicted that the government would eventually shift to a European-style open-door policy on Ukrainian refugees. If that happens, as it should, proper resources need to be directed to councils and charities across the country to house and support those who arrive; this must be a national effort with proper leadership from Whitehall.
The Good Samaritan did not simply talk the talk, as Mr Johnson is so often wont to do. He crossed the road to help the stricken stranger, and then paid for the man to be looked after.