Government still failing to offer fast and simple refugee scheme fro those fleeing Putin's terror war
Even as the Russian missiles rain down and a huge convoy advances on Kyiv, the Home Secretary is still refusing to open a fast and simple refugee scheme for Ukrainian refugees. Perhaps worse, she is pressing ahead with her Anti-Refugee Bill that would criminalise any Ukrainians who come here to seek asylum.
"Our country has a proud history of providing sanctuary to people fleeing war and persecution. We must not abandon Ukrainian refugees in their hour of need, " said Cllr Robin Ashby, who expects to speak on this matter at Newcastle City Council's meeting.
"It cannot bear repeating enough that when you are fleeing for safety, you have no time to apply for a visa. And in the case of some refugees crossing into the EU at this very moment, you may not even have time to gather up all your documents. Lack of a piece of paper must not stop people reaching safety from death or oppression.
"One of my early memories is of Hungarian refugees who came to this country fleeing Russian tanks crushing their attempts to win freedom and democracy only a decade after the horrors of Nazi occupation and extermination.
"Many of those people built a new life in our country and have contributed hugely to our civilisation. And so it has been with every wave of refugees.
"I have had emails from local people asking what they can do to help. Can they offer Ukranian refugees a bed? That is the open hearts of the British speaking, not the mean and narrow minded approach seen in the Nationality and Borders Bill. I know that many Labour and Liberal Democrats peers have been fighting it line by line in Parliament, especially in the House of Lords.
"It is reported that the government will spend £2.7bn on implementing the bill, but it is already spending more than that on existing policies.
"Even at its crassest, there are billions that could be saved if it stopped detaining people in immigration detention centres and housed them in the community instead. If it allowed asylum seekers the right to work. If it stopped refusing so many applications, only to have to spend money on defending those decisions and losing over half the cases. If it was more efficient and made faster, fairer decisions.
"The Home Secretary must go back to Parliament urgently to announce a full refugee scheme to resettle Ukrainians in the UK. The Bill she is pushing through Parliament will undermine our obligation to give all who seek sanctuary a fair hearing on our soil by discriminating against refugees depending on how they reach here. It must be rethought urgently. It diminishes not just its authors but all of us."
Pictured : Liberal Democrats councillors Nick Cott and Doreen Huddart supporting Free Ukraine in Newcastle