Priti Patel has been condemned by cross-party MPs for telling the Commons on Monday that a visa centre had been set up in Calais to help Ukrainian refugees trying to enter the UK – a claim now known to be false.
Roger Gale, a senior MP in the home secretary’s own party, went as far as suggesting she should resign over the matter. “The home secretary said yesterday that a visa centre had already been set up in Calais,” he said. “This was untrue and under any normal administration that would be a resigning matter.”
Meanwhile, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper added that Ms Patel should have come to the Commons herself on Tuesday – instead of sending her colleague Kevin Foster – to be scrutinised.
It comes after No 10 admitted that Ukrainians trapped in Calais would need to travel 70 miles to Lille to find out if they are even eligible to be given a UK visa, despite Ms Patel’s claims 24 hours earlier.
Elsewhere, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky will address the Commons later today via video link.
Boris Johnson to announce move away from Russian oil and gas – report
Boris Johnson will make an announcement at around 4pm today on reducing dependence on Russian oil and gas imports, according to Politico reporter Alex Wickham.
The prime minister said yesterday that the world could not simply stop using oil and gas from Russia but it could take a “step-by-step” approach away from reliance.
Downing Street denied suggestions the government could relax its targets for achieving net zero or lifting the moratorium on fracking in response to the crisis.
US president Joe Biden is expected to announce a ban on Russian oil in remarks at 3.45pm (10.45am ET), sources familiar with the matter said.
John Bercow suspended by Labour after report brands him ‘serial bully’
Former Commons speaker John Bercow has been suspended from the Labour Party after an independent probe branded him a “serial bully”.
It is understood the party will now conduct its own investigation.
Mr Bercow receieved a lifetime ban from holding a parliamentary pass due the bullying probe’s findings. He was also found to be a “serial liar”.
Updates from Ashley Cowburn here:
Liz Truss claim that Labour tried to slow down oligarch sanction ‘does not stand up to scrutiny’
Anneliese Dodds hit back at accusations levelled against her by Liz Truss that she tried to slow down the UK’s ability to sanction individual Russians.
The Labour frontbencher suggested the foreign secretary had made up claims against her.
She said: “The accusations the foreign secretary made against me do not stand up to scrutiny – I’m using parliamentary language here.”
She went on: “At no point did I seek to slow down the government’s ability to sanction indiciduals who pose a threat to the UK,”
“Quite the opposite.”
She said she pushed for sanctions against Russian oligarchs, “which were actually then blocked by the Conservative government who shut down the relevant committee debate after half an hour to prevent the issue being put to a vote”.
Government ‘misread’ UK on refugee approach, says Lib Dem
Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader, appears to accuse the Home Office of misreading the country’s approach to welcoming refugees.
He says, like other MPs, he has been inundated by people offering to sponsor refugees. But they cannot, because the scheme has not been set up.
Foster repeats his point about how the government is working “at pace” to rectify this.
After a few more questions on the point, the urgent question session is over. Now over to a point of order concerning foreign secretary Liz Truss.
Lucas condemns Patel for failing to come to Commons
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, has condemned the home secretary for sending a colleague – Home Office minister Kevin Foster – to the Commons after “yesterday’s day of chaos, confusion & wrong information from her on cruel & unjust policy”.
Ukraine: Family visa scheme extended to include cousins and in-laws
In some good news, the UK has said it is extending its family visa scheme for Ukrainian refugees to include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.
The announcement was made in the House of Commons by Home Office minister Kevin Foster, who claimed that the government was making “significant progress” in responding to the refugee crisis and had now processed more than 500 Ukrainian applicants for sanctuary in the UK.
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:
Tory MP says ‘days not weeks’ needed for sponsorship scheme
Over to Mark Harper, the former Tory minister, in the Commons, who says he appreciates the difficulties Foster and the Home Office faces.
But he adds the government needs to act more quickly. He says he was concerned by Foster’s suggestion that it might take weeks or months for the Ukrainian sponsorship scheme to be set up. He says it should happen more quickly.
Foster says he would like to hear an announcement by Thursday at the latest. “This should be a matter of days, not weeks,” he insists.
Watch: Senior Tory calls on Patel to resign
Sir Roger Gale has tweeted a clip of the moment he suggested Priti Patel should resign over the erroneous claims she made about a visa centre in Calais.
Here it is:
Leadsom condemns Labour for ‘jeering’ at security concerns
Following my last post, Dame Andrea Leadsom, the former Tory cabinet minister, says it is “shocking” to hear opposition MPs jeering at the argument that checks are needed to protect Britons from Salisbury-style attacks.
But she admits she is concerned about the speed at which visa applications are being processed.
Home Office: Ukrainians need visas because govt won’t ‘take chances’ with security
Kevin Foster, who is in the Commons representing the Home Office, has made repeated claims during this session that the government has to be selective at the borders due to the high number of people supposedly masquerading as Ukrainian refugees.
He says visas are required for security reasons, and that there have been cases of people using false documents and claiming to be Ukrainian.
“With incidents like Salisbury still in our minds, the government’s will not take chances with the security of this country and our people, our friends in the United States, Canada and Australia are rightly taking the same approach as we are,” he tells MPs.
He is referring to the infamous Salisbury poisonings, carried out by Russian agents.
For context, EU countries are not requiring Ukrainains to obtain visas to enter, whereas the UK is.
