It would be “immoral and illiterate” for Britain to take in more Ukrainian refugees, a Conservative MP has claimed.
Daniel Kawczynski, the MP for Shrewsbury, said people fleeing the conflict should remain in “front line” states and not travel to the UK for their own good.
It comes amid increasing pressure on Britain to fall into line with the rest of Europe and welcome more people fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
EU countries have introduced an open-door policy and given all Ukrainian nationals access to housing and assistance – but Britain is requiring Ukrainians to apply for visas, with some conditions relaxed.
Just 300 visas were granted by the UK as of Monday, at a time when neighbouring Ireland had already admitted 1,800 people despite being remote from the warzone.
The government says it will open a new channel for people to travel to Britain in the coming days – but on Wednesday night Mr Kawczynski defended the current strict approach and claimed rejecting refugees would be better for Ukraine in the long run.
“British left-wing parties demand Britain takes in more Ukrainian refugees,” he said in a message posted on social media.
“This is illiterate and immoral. When war is over Ukrainians will need to return home to rebuild their country.
“We should be supporting Ukrainian refugees in frontline states like Poland and Romania.”
Benali Hamadache, migration spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales said: “The only immoral thing is this tweet”, referring to Mr Kawczynski’s comment.
The Shrewsbury MP is the latest Tory to cause outrage with comments about Ukrainian refugees. Last month immigration minister Kevin Foster faced calls to quit after appearing to suggest people fleeing the conflict could come to Britain on seasonal agricultural visas to pick fruit.
Mr Kawczynski last hit the headlines in January after it emerged he had spent £22,000 of public money on taxpayer-funded Polish lessons.
In 2019 the Warsaw-born MP have claimed he was an “almost fluent Polish speaker”. He defended the expenditure and said MPs were encouraged to “undertake various types of training”.
The month before Mr v Kawczynski had come to media attention after leaked WhatsApp messages showed him pleading for as second job with a Saudi Arabian company in order to pay private school fees.
In his pitch to a fixer he described himself as the most “pro-Saudi” member of parliament and claimed “Saudi has no better friend in UK than me”.
In another message he asked for “good renumeration”, adding: “I need it to pay school fees!”
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
