Show some Christian compassion, Patel told as refugees get tangled in red tape
Tories criticise visa ‘chaos’ as MPS cite Ukrainians forced to stand in the cold and families told to wait until next week
‘Surely we are past the UK saying we are going to have a generous scheme? It’s time to deliver a generous scheme’
PRITI PATEL’S Home Office was accused of showing a “lack of compassion” to Ukrainian refugees as she faced a searing backlash from Tory MPS over the “chaotic and slow” visa application process.
More than a dozen Conservative parliamentarians including three former Home Office ministers criticised the apparent delays that mean just 500 family visas have been granted to Ukrainians out of more than 10,000 applicants.
The MPS said Ukrainian relatives of constituents had been told they might have to wait for up to a month for an appointment for in-person biometric checks to get their visa in Poland – a charge denied by Home Office officials who blamed refugees for turning up without a booking.
In an attempt to ease growing pressure in Calais, where more than 600 Ukrainians have arrived trying to reach the UK, ministers will set up a “pop-up” visa application centre in the next 24 hours in Lille, 70 miles away.
It came after immigration officers were forced to turn away 300 Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Calais without the correct documentation and sent them to visa application centres in Paris or Brussels. Kevin Foster, the immigration minister sent to face the wrath of MPS, said the pop-up centre had to be away from Calais because of the danger of the port city becoming a “choke point” for refugees and the risk from people smuggling gangs preying on Ukrainians. He defended the need for security and biometric tests – which include fingerprints and photographs of any applicant aged over five – because of fears that Russian agents or extremists could infiltrate the refugees.
Citing the poison attack by Russian agents in Salisbury, Mr Foster told MPS: “Sadly, we are already seeing people presenting at Calais with false documents claiming to be Ukrainian.
“With incidents like Salisbury still in our minds, the Government will not take chances with the security of this country and our people. Our friends in the United States, Canada and Australia are rightly taking the same approach.”
But Steve Brine, the former Tory minister, said: “So much about this doesn’t feel right. All of this is far too robotic and… there is very little Christian compassion being shown. Surely we are past the UK saying we are going to have a generous scheme? It’s time to deliver a generous scheme.”
Damian Green, the former home office minister, questioned why biometric checks could not be done once the refugees had arrived in the UK, saying the Home Office was not recognising the uniqueness of this situation.
He said it was taking “too long” to set up the family scheme and criticised the “sheer confusion” of sending refugees in Calais to Lille to apply.
Mr Foster defended the need for biometric checks before entering the UK, saying: “We don’t want to go down paths of things like using immigration detention powers... which we do not believe would be appropriate at all.”
Alec Shelbrooke, the Tory MP, said he was proud of his constituents’ offers to help refugees but accused the Home Office of “cutting off their legs”. He added: “This is a disgrace. When the minister leaves the Dispatch Box, I ask him to go back to the Home Office and tell them to get a grip.”
Sir Roger Gale, the Tory MP for North Thanet, suggested the Home Secretary should resign for saying on Monday that the Lille centre had been set up when it had not, although she subsequently corrected herself. He urged ministers to grant a visa waiver for all adult and child Ukrainian passport holders.
Caroline Nokes, the former immigration minister, said even “snails move at pace” as she demanded to know why there was no date yet for a humanitar
ian sponsorship visa. Mark Harper, also a former immigration minister and exchief whip, said he expected the minister to outline the sponsorship scheme by tomorrow. “We do need to grip the pace of this and it will require ministers to take decisions to move things along quickly,” he said. Tracey Crouch, a former minister, cited the case of a constituent’s refugee family who had been told there were no biometric appointments at Rzeszów visa application centre in Poland until the end of next month.
Clive Efford, the Labour MP, said it was “complete chaos” at the Rzeszów centre, which had closed its doors and was no longer allowing walk-in appointments, leaving refugees including an 81-year-old woman and children freezing in the cold outside. “There’s plenty of room inside but they won’t open the doors. This is unacceptable. What’s the minister going to do about it?” he asked.
The Home Office maintained there were appointments available at all centres, but said Rzeszów had been overwhelmed by walk-in applicants and urged people to use the booking sysdr tem. It said it had increased staffing at the centres 12-fold and is aiming for 6,000 appointments a week, with Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, offering to send military staff to help.
Andrew Murrison, another former minister, asked the Government why Ireland, with a population of five million, had already admitted more than 2,000 refugees from Ukraine but the UK, with a population of 67 million, had “come nowhere even close to that?”.
The Government has faced a backlash over privately voicing security concerns about Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland.
Ministers had raised alarm about Ireland joining an Eu-wide scheme under which refugees fleeing the conflict may settle in the bloc without a visa or biometric data checks for up to three years.
Simon Hoare, the Tory MP, said on Twitter: “Instead of criticism of our Irish friends and neighbours, UK would be much better replicating its response.”