Home Office blunders shame this country
What is wrong with the Home Office? It is hard to imagine a more dysfunctional Whitehall department; and yet listening to the hapless Kevin Foster, a junior minister, in the Commons yesterday, everything is hunky-dory when it comes to dealing with the flood of refugees from Ukraine. He was sent into the fray in the absence of Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, who the previous day had perplexed MPS by claiming that the UK’S “generous” visa scheme for refugees was up and running, although she could not say exactly where. Reporters in Calais tracked down a threeman outpost able to dispense crisps and chocolate bars but not a visa.
The Government’s position is that Ukrainians with family connections to the UK can apply to come here but to avoid a free-for-all must undergo proper scrutiny of their bona fides. These include document and biometric checks that are plainly difficult for people fleeing their homes to access readily. Moreover, there are nine forms that have to be completed, so the process is inordinately complex.
One Conservative MP told of a family trying to join relatives in his constituency having to fill in a form for a baby, which asked for employment background and other irrelevancies. If the Government is so set against the sort of visa waiver schemes operating in the EU it is incumbent upon ministers to ensure that the application process is straightforward and competently administered. Yet by all accounts it is far from either.
The reason for checks is to stop people who aren’t Ukrainian using the scheme to enter the UK. When thousands of Kosovan refugees were resettled it was discovered that many were Albanians, among them criminal elements. But this is hardly likely if only women and children with Ukrainian passports are allowed in.
Mr Foster said assassins such as those who left Novichok in Salisbury might try to sneak in because the UK is high on the Kremlin’s hit list. This argument is simply fatuous and an insult to people who really are in “Putin’s cross hairs”.
This bureaucratic shambles is bringing shame on this country and tarnishing its reputation for generosity towards refugees fleeing war. Ministers continue to assert that the scheme is working well, even when confronted with a plethora of stories showing that it isn’t. A previous home secretary once said the department was “not fit for purpose”. Nothing seems to have improved in the meantime.