Britain’s shameful foot-dragging on refugees
With an estimated two million refugees leaving Ukraine over the past fortnight, the UK government is facing “searing criticism” over its refugee policy from both sides of the Commons, says The Daily Telegraph. Only about 300 visas have been issued for Ukrainians with relatives in the UK, compared with about 1,800 in Ireland, 30,000 in Germany and half a million in Poland. The processing of visas has slowed to a “crawl” due to the insistence on applicants providing documentation and having their fingerprints taken.
Normally, the government would be right to ensure that there are “reasonable” checks in place to ensure that the authorities know who is here and where they are staying, says The Times. But “in the midst of a war in which Ukrainians have fled as bombs exploded around them”, such an approach will only “deepen the misery”. The whole point of the Refugee Convention was that those fleeing persecution from tyranny would not be sent back because of a lack of paperwork. Such bureaucracy “shames Britain”.
It’s not just bureaucratic inflexibility that is causing “tears of frustration”, says Isabel Hardman in The Spectator. MPs are also angry at the confusion between the different arms of government. Home secretary Priti Patel claimed she was creating a third route for refugees, only for No.10 to insist there were only two routes and that wasn’t changing. The UK cannot grant Ukraine’s request for a no-fly zone. It would, though, be wise for it to get its act together and “work out what the policy on refugees really is, who is in charge, and how it is going to be implemented”.