Boris Johnson has promised that home secretary Priti Patel will look into the case of a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl forced back into the war zone after the UK government “refused” to process her application.
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq told the prime minister that a constituent had tried to provide a home to the 13-year-old girl and her 18-year-old sister – but Home Office bureaucracy had split the family apart.
She said the two Ukrainian sisters been housed in “dangerous temporary accommodation” in Montenegro for several weeks while waiting to hear if they would be accepted under the UK’s sponsorship scheme.
“The House Office refused to process the application of the younger sister because she is 13 and travelling without her parents, even though she had her 18-year-old sister with her,” the senior Labour MP said during PMQs.
The shadow Treasury minister told the Commons: “The 18-year-old sister is now in London and the 13-year-old sister has been sent back to her hometown in Ukraine, which is under siege.”
She added: “Can the prime minister can he tell me, hand on heart, does he think sending vulnerable children back to a war zone is the right policy?”
Mr Johnson pledged that Ms Patel would examine the case. “I understand her indignation about the case she mentions, and I know that my right honourable friend the home secretary will be looking into it,” he said.
The PM added: “I have to say I do think the record of this country in processing so far well over 120,000 visas for Ukrainians is very creditable.”
Another Labour MP shouted “shameful!” in the Commons chamber after the case was raised.
Lawyers helping Ukrainian refugees reach the UK have warned that families were being “split” by a Home Office system which deals with parents, adult children and children under 18 separately.
Although more than 120,000 visas have been issued to those who have fled the Russian invasion, the refugees minister revealed on Tuesday that there are still almost 20,000 Ukrainians waiting for a UK visa application to be completed.
Lord Harrington told the upper chamber that 65,7000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the UK since the start of the war in February. He said 19,000 were still waiting in cases involving “different levels of complexity”.
The minister also refused to say if those fleeing that warzone could be sent to Rwanda if they arrive by routes deemed “illegal”.
Lord Paddick, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, noted that a senior Home Office official said in May 11 that undocumented people who travel from the Ukraine to the UK could be considered for removal to central Africa.
Lord Harrington: “There’s two very good legal channels for refugees from Ukraine to come to this country and therefore there’s no reason at all for them to be sent to Rwanda or anyone else – other than, I hope, back to Ukraine back when the political and military situation allows that.”
Ukrainian refugees the UK could be housed in B&Bs indefinitely under new laws quietly pushed through by the government – sparking accusations of a “two-tier system” of housing support.
An amendment to homelessness laws last month states the six-week limit homeless families can spend in B&B accommodation will no longer apply to refugees who have fled from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
