British public to be asked to take in refugees
‘Tens of thousands’ of Ukrainians without family links will be allowed to stay for a year
THE British public will be asked to offer homes to tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion under plans to be announced this weekend.
Ministers are to launch a hotline and webpage where individuals, charities, businesses and community groups will be able to offer rooms to refugees who have no family links to the UK.
The move follows criticism of the Home Office’s “chaotic” rollout of its scheme for refugees who have family in the UK that has led to delays and complaints of excessive bureaucracy. Western officials yesterday warned that the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine could rise as high as four million in the coming days, almost doubling the current estimates of 2.2 million.
It came as Boris Johnson last night warned that Britons may face a “bumpy period” of economic pain as a result of banning oil and gas imports from Russia. The Prime Minister said the UK would take “dramatic steps” to achieve an “independent energy supply, so that we’re no longer capable of being blackmailed by Putin”.
The strategy is set to include the major expansion of North Sea oil extraction, renewables and nuclear. He is also expected to speak directly to the big oil producing nations next week about ramping up production.
Household energy support loans could also be doubled to £400 this autumn under plans to help families facing even higher fuel bills because of Russia’s invasion.
Mr Johnson has asked Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, to draw up a list of options to support families through next winter, amid expectations the energy price cap will rise again in October.
Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, will unveil the new “sponsored” humanitarian refugee route on Monday. It will grant Ukrainians without family links leave to stay in the UK for an initial 12 months and entitle them to work, claim benefits and access public services.
Civil servants will match them with the offers of free housing from the sponsoring individuals, charities and businesses, who will be vetted to ensure they are providing safe and secure accommodation.
People offering homes will have to agree to take refugees for a minimum period of potentially six months, demonstrate the accommodation meets appropriate standards and, if necessary, undergo criminal record checks, as many of the Ukrainians are likely to be women and children.
Ministers are expected to set targets for the number of offers and will look to other accommodation providers, including councils and housing associations.
“It’s going to be tens of thousands initially,” said a source.
The Home Office will recruit the Ukrainian refugees, who will require visas and undergo the same biometric and security checks as those entering through the family scheme.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, yesterday announced that all Ukrainians with passports will be able to apply online to come to the UK, after the security services cleared a new streamlined system to cut delays in the visa application process. Ukrainians with passports will no longer need to go to a visa application centre (VAC) for biometric checks before they come to the UK and instead only have to upload their passport and then take checks after arrival.
However, Micheál Martin, the Irish taoiseach, yesterday said the Home Secretary had expressed concern to the Irish government that the country’s approach to Ukrainian refugees would lead to them arriving in Britain through the back door. Ireland joined the Eu-wide scheme that allows people fleeing Ukraine to settle without a visa for three years.
Speaking on Sky News last night, Mr Johnson said it “will allow people to come in, so people welcome [refugees] into their own homes”.
A source said: “It’s a humanitarian call for action. The majority will be doing it out of philanthropic motives.”
Refugees at Home, a charity that connects people with spare rooms to refugees, said it had already seen a 50-fold increase since the Russian invasion, rising from an average of 20 applications a fortnight to 1,000 since Feb 24 offering to host Ukrainians fleeing the war.
One healthcare provider in Sussex has offered around 150 rooms in three vacant care homes it manages.
Tony Stein, the chief executive of Healthcare Management Solutions, said refugees could be offered jobs in the care sector where one in five posts are vacant. “I would like this to be a catalyst for the rest of the sector to look at what they have got and what they can do. There is a lot of empty property, empty care homes,” he said.
Mr Johnson lambasted the Russian president over his “cynical, barbaric government”, as he made a “prediction” that the Kremlin was about to resort to using chemical weapons in Ukraine. The move “is straight out of their playbook”, the Prime Minister said.
He also raised fears that the Russian president has “driven his tank … down a cul de sac” and will find it “very hard to extricate himself ” from the war.
Mr Johnson said recent phone calls in which Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has repeatedly pleaded for the West to impose a no-fly zone over his country had been “deeply upsetting” and “agonising”. Nato has said the idea is off the table.
Asked whether the nation would have to accept economic pain while trying to defeat Vladimir Putin, he said “yes”, adding it was “absolutely right”.
The Prime Minister insisted that the Government “will do everything we can to help households, help people with the cost of fuel, particularly elderly vulnerable people”.
He said: “Now is the time to unleash an extraordinary programme of energy independence through massive investment in renewables … a lot more nuclear, and also in sensible use of our own hydrocarbons, with our own oil and gas and without busting our carbon budget.”
The West must “learn the lesson of indulging and appeasing Putin and failing to wean ourselves off Russian oil
and gas” Mr Johnson warned. Ofgem, the energy regulator, has already announced that the energy cap will increase next month by 54 per cent, prompting Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to launch a £200 loan scheme to help households with their energy bills.
But ministers are concerned that another increase in the cost of oil and gas, caused by the war, will mean the price cap will increase again in October.
Experts have speculated that the average household energy bill could reach £4,000 by the end of this year.
One plan under consideration is an extension of the loan, with households handed £400 or more in rebates.
This week, the RAC said the average cost of a tank of fuel is now almost £88. Diesel is already exceeding £1.80 per litre in some parts of the country, and in London motorists are paying more than £2 per litre for petrol.
Food is also expected to become more expensive since the Russian invasion, with wheat prices reaching record levels. Ukraine is a major European producer of wheat and grain.