Today the Home Office announced that only 1,200 people from Ukraine have arrived in the UK through a sponsorship route. This is a woefully low number.
The Home Secretary has apologised for these delays, but apologies alone do not bring people to safety.
In continuing to insist on operating a visa scheme for people fleeing this dreadful conflict, the UK is an international outlier. Ireland has brought in a visa waiver, and the EU enacted a temporary protection directive, to allow people to be brought to safety first and paperwork to be considered later. This is not the time for sluggish bureaucracy.
The sad reality is that many people who need help will not be able to reach safety through targeted schemes like this. This is why the universal right to claim asylum enshrined in the UN Refugee Convention is so important.
At the same time as the UK Government is claiming to stand with Ukraine, it is pushing its Nationality & Borders Bill through parliament. This bill would make it a crime for somebody fleeing Ukraine, Afghanistan or any conflict around the world, to reach the UK off their own back to claim asylum. This directly contravenes the UN Refugee Convention. It’s unconscionable that the UK Government is choosing this moment in history to tear up its compliance with this incredibly important piece of international law.
