THE Home Office’s “xenophobic and inhumane” visa policy for Ukrainian refugees has sparked calls for Priti Patel’s resignation.
Chris Law, the SNP’s international development spokesperson, called on the Home Secretary to step down after it was reported the UK has shut out families fleeing the war over fears of drug trafficking.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Law said that International Women’s Day had see Europe “united” in welcoming refugees – almost entirely women and children – while “pitifully”, the UK had granted “only 300 visas”.
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He added: “Shamefully this morning, we learn from The Daily Telegraph, that while Ireland has waived visas and expects to welcome 100,000 refugees, the UK government has expressed fears this will be a drug route to the UK.”
The UK’s continued “xenophobic and inhumane” immigration policy of the Home Secretary was a “complete humiliation” for Britain on the day the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed MPs.
Law called on Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to urge Patel to either “reverse this policy or to resign”.
It comes after France accused the UK of a “lack of humanity” after Ukrainian refugees who reached Calais in a bid to come to Britain were turned away due to a lack of paperwork.
The French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said refugees were told to travel more than 100 miles to Paris or Brussels to obtain visas from the British embassies.
Now Downing Street has announced a new visa processing centre in France will be set up “in the coming days”.
The centre will be established in Lille, rather than at Calais where hundreds of Ukrainians have gathered seeking permission to come to the UK.
A No 10 spokesman said the centre was “en route to Calais” and “the Home Office are working quickly to set it up and we expect it to be set up in the coming days”.
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Asked why it was not being set up in Calais, where Ukrainians had already gathered, the spokesman said: “We obviously want to make sure that we can provide the appropriate level of support that those who are seeking to enter the UK require.
“Obviously the Home Office and Border Force are best placed to make a call on where that would be best based to help support those people who are making their way through France.”
Asked what Ukrainians already in Calais should do, the spokesman said the new application centre would be set up shortly, “there is a helpline in place” and “facilities and staff in neighbouring countries to Ukraine”.
Home Office minister Kevin Foster said there were more than 500 visas issued as of Tuesday and that the Ukraine Family Scheme would be extended.
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