UK Politics

Cabinet minister Michael Gove is interested in housing a refugee from Ukraine, as he revealed he is “exploring” how to personally support those fleeing the Russian invasion.The levelling up minister set out details of the new sponsorship route, allowing Britons to offer homes to Ukrainian refugees and receive a “thank you” payment of £350 per month.Asked on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme he would take in a Ukrainian refugee, Mr Gove said: “Yes.”He added: “I’m exploring what I can do, I know that there are others who have. Without going into my personal circumstances, there are a couple of things I need to sort out – but yes.”Mr Gove also indicated during a Times Radio interview that he would be willing to house a refugee himself – saying he was interested in doing so and “exploring what I can do”.Grilled if he would house a refugee or was thinking about it, he replied: “I have particular personal circumstances which I won’t bore you with, which just require me to work one or two details out.”Mr Gove said “tens of thousands” of refugees could come through the route, and revealed that local authorities would receive £10,000 for each Ukrainian refugee sponsored in their area.People sponsoring refugees through the new uncapped route will be required to commit to the scheme for a minimum of six months – but will encouraged to keep up the offer for as long as they can.Sponsored refugees will be granted 36 months leave to remain in the UK, with entitlement to benefits and public services. Those offering accommodation will be vetted and Ukrainian applicants will undergo security checks.Mr Gove said individuals and community groups would use social media to connect with refugees, adding that charities would help in the “matching process”.He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We know charities, and we are working with them, who are working to identify people on the ground, and helping to identify people here to create the matching process.”But opposition parties expressed concern about the “slow and cumbersome” offer, and compared the reliance on social media to “online dating”.Charities also questioned the “bureaucratic” process which will see British sponsors go through online paperwork and security checks on behalf of a particular “named” refugee.The Refugee Council said the government was putting too many “bureaucratic hurdles” in the way – and said the scene “will inevitably be restricted to those who are known to people in the UK”.Labour also cautioned that “too many questions remain unanswered” about the new scheme – accusing the government have been “far too slow, far too mean” in its approach to refugees.Shadow levelling up minister Lisa Nandy told LBC: “There’s no help … to make people match their sponsor. We’re asking people to ask to take to social media at a time they’re fleeing a war zone. This is a serious crisis – it’s not an online dating situation.”Questioning the lack of detail in the sponsorship plan, Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News: “What would comfort me more frankly is if I heard from Michael Gove that there were plans in place for the support that’s actually going to be needed on arrival.”Meanwhile, first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford have said both Scotland and Wales are willing to become “super sponsors” for Ukrainian refugees.The SNP leader said on Sunday that Scotland “stands ready” to take 3,000 Ukrainian refugees immediately.Ms Sturgeon also said she was worried the UK sponsorship scheme will be “slow and cumbersome”, will lack proper support and safeguarding, and may not be sustainable for the length of time that people may need to stay in the UK.The Independent is also raising money for the people of Ukraine – if you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.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. More

Ukrainian refugees who carried their pets as they fled their homes will be allowed to bring the animals into the UK without paperwork or facing vaccine and quarantine bills, The Independent has learnt.The government is preparing to announce emergency measures to make it easier for the victims of war to keep their cats and dogs with them rather than abandoning them in countries en route to the UK, such as Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Germany.With more than 2.5 million Ukrainians having been forced to leave the country, sources say ministers will waive the strict rule that requires owners to have a pet passport or health certificate to bring in their pets.It’s thought the government is also set to announce it will cover the cost of vaccines including for rabies.In addition, quarantine costs will be free – and officials are considering setting up a new system of home quarantine if demand exceeds places in UK quarantine facilities.Ukrainian dogs and cats that have already been vaccinated should not need to be quarantined.British animal-protection activists have been lobbying the government to relax entry restrictions on pets belonging to those fleeing war.And the government move is understood to be considered a trade-off for the government’s dropping the flagship Animals Abroad Bill, which would have banned imports of real fur, body parts from trophy-hunting, foie gras, shark fins and live exports of livestock, as well as adverts for elephant rides.Under the UK’s rules, owners may to enter or return to Britain with a pet cat, dog or ferret only if the animal has been microchipped, has a pet passport or health certificate and has been vaccinated against rabies.Normally, animals from Ukraine would also need a blood test for rabies at least three months before travelling.But it’s understood these requirements will all be waived.The government is preparing to unveil a system of paying British people £350 a month for hosting refugees from Ukraine.And officials are working with vets and quarantine facilities to look at ways to support incoming pet owners. Last week lobbyists wrote to animal-welfare minister Zac Goldsmith and environment secretary George Eustice, calling for an emergency pet passport scheme and offering help in setting up cat and dog health check systems. They warned that forcing people already devastated by war to potentially leave their beloved animals to die would deepen their trauma.Dominic Dyer in his letter: “If UK policy remains that no companion animals can enter the UK with refugees, we could see tens of thousands of dogs and cats having to be euthanised in Poland, Hungary and Romania in the weeks ahead.“Each of these animal deaths would bring further misery to the women and children who have escaped war and would make Britain’s immigration policy look extremely cruel in comparison to other EU member states.”The International Fund for Animal Welfare has estimated up to half of Ukrainian families fleeing are pet owners.If the rules on microchipping and paperwork are not followed, any pet would normally be put in quarantine for up to four months, under the UK’s strict measures to keep the country rabies-free.A government spokesperson said: spokesperson said: “We recognise the difficult and distressing situation that Ukrainian nationals currently face, and the UK government is working at pace to support them. “We have strong biosecurity measures in place to protect the public and other animals from diseases which can be brought to the UK by animals from overseas. “The government is looking at options to provide support to Ukrainian nationals who are entering the UK with their pets.” More

Cabinet minister Michael Gove said the government wants to “explore an option” of using sanctioned oligarchs’ mansion homes in Britain to house refugees from Ukraine.However, the levelling up minister conceded there would be a “high legal bar to cross” in using frozen assets – and suggested it could only house refugees temporarily.Asked about reports in the Daily Mail that he wants to “seize” mansions and use them to accommodate people fleeing the war, Mr Gove told the BBC: “There’s quite a high legal bar to cross and we’re not talking about permanent confiscation.”He told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “I want to explore an option which would allow us to use the homes and properties of sanctioned individuals – as long as they are sanctioned – for humanitarian and other purposes.”Mr Gove added: “We are saying: ‘You’re sanctioned, you’re supporting Putin, this home is here, you have no right to use or profit from it – and more than that, while you are not using or profiting from it, if we can use it in order to help others, let’s do that’.”When challenged by host Sophie Raworth that oligarchs can continue to live in properties that have been frozen under sanctions – which only prevent assets from being sold – Mr Gove said: “We’ve moved as rapidly as we possibly can.”The housing minister added: “If we can use those assets for as long as someone is sanctioned, then we should.”Mr Gove’s desire to use frozen property assets is reportedly being blocked by officials at the Treasury and the Foreign Office who believe it is “not legally workable”.Ministers have understood to have expressed concerns that properties cannot be seized under current sanctions legislation.The government has imposed sanctions on 20 Putin-linked oligarchs – as well as 386 members of the Russian parliament. Foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she has a long “hit list” of Russians as part of a “rolling programme” of sanctions.Mr Gove also suggested he was personally considering offer a home to Ukrainian refugees, as he set out details of a government sponsorship route, allowing British citizens and community groups to offer up rooms and receive a “thank you” payment of £350 per month.Asked if he would take someone fleeing the Russian forces, the cabinet minister told the BBC: “Yes.”He explained: “I’m exploring what I can do, I know that there are others who have. Without going into my personal circumstances, there are a couple of things I need to sort out – but yes.”Mr Gove said there are potentially “hundreds of thousands of people” in the UK willing to take Ukrainians into their homes – but had earlier conceded that he expected the route would only see “tens of thousands” welcomed in.The housing minister also revealed that local authorities would receive £10,000 for each Ukrainian refugee it sponsors and provides support.But government has been criticised for insisting that British sponsors go through online paperwork and security checks on behalf of a particular, “named” refugee.Mr Gove said charities would help in the “matching process”, and said the government believed individuals and community groups would use social media to connect and fill out online paperwork together.The Refugee Council accused the government of putting too many “bureaucratic hurdles” in the way – and said “it will inevitably be restricted to those who are known to people in the UK”. More

Vladimir Putin is “out of control” and has committed war crimes with his invasion of Ukraine, said cabinet minister Michael Gove – who said the UK government was concerned about Russia’s nuclear threat.Mr Gove said he does not think it is helpful to think of Russian president as “mad” – but said he was operating in a “moral sphere the rest of us would find almost impossible to conceive of”.Asked whether the possibility that the Putin regime could use nuclear weapons was a real concern for the UK government, the senior minister says: “Yes.”Mr Gove said it is was known that Putin was capable of “terrible, terrible violence”, but said it was not for him to specify how the UK government would respond to a chemical attack on Ukraine.“[Use of chemical weapons] would be a war crime. It was a war crime in Syria – it is the case that already Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.Mr Gove added: “Our response is something that will be agreed in concert with our allies … It would be a response specifically targeted to deal with that escalation.”Leonid Volkov – a close adviser to the stanch Putin critic and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny – said Mr Putin was a “crazy person” and it was difficult to predict what he could do next.Asked on Sky News on Sunday if he believed Mr Putin could use nuclear weapons, Mr Volkov said: “He is crazy enough. We cannot we can expect, unfortunately, everything.”However, Mr Gove was reluctant to go into further detail on Putin’s “grisly options” and the issue of Russia’s nuclear threat, saying: “I hope you’ll excuse my caution when we’re talking about such momentous and potentially terrifying escalation.”The levelling up minister said Putin was operating “according to a set of criteria, totally detached from those which you or I would consider to be reasonable or rational”.He added: “I don’t think it’s helpful to think of Putin as mad. I think what we do need to think of him as, and indeed we do need to recognise, is someone whose ruthlessness takes them into a moral sphere that the rest of us would find almost impossible to conceive of.”Mr Gove also told the BBC that the Ukrainian people were facing “a series of war crimes perpetrated by a leader who is out of control”.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he agreed that Putin has committed war crimes during the invasion of Ukraine. “What I have seen already amounts to war crimes. Particularly the awful attacks on civilians,” he told Sky News.Attorney General Suella Braverman said Boris Johnson’s government would help put Russian soldiers found guilty of war crimes in Ukraine behind bars.Ms Braverman wrote: “The evidence is there, the world can see it accruing. Our job now is to collect it, preserve it and use it when the moment comes.”It comes as deputy prime minister Dominic Raab prepares to travel to the Hague on Monday to assist the international effort to gather evidence of war crimes.The justice secretary, a former lawyer who has prosecuted war crimes, has previously said that the UK has acquired intelligence during past investigations which would prove “absolutely critical” to the International Criminal Court (ICC).The ICC has already started an investigation that could target senior officials believed to be responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.Meanwhile, Mr Gove said also he wants to look at the possibility of using the properties of sanctioned oligarchs to house refugees and for other purposes – even though legal experts have warned that frozen assets cannot be seized.He told the BBC: “We are saying you are sanctioned, you are supporting Putin, you have no right to use your home or profit from it, while you are not using or profiting from it, if we can use it to help others, let’s do that.” More

Cabinet minister Michael Gove blundered over the number of Ukrainian refugees accepted by Britain – incorrectly claiming that 300,000 visas has been issued to those fleeing the Russian invasion.Challenged over the figures on Sky News, Mr Gove admitted he had got the figured wrong, before revealing that only around 3,000 visas had been granted on the Ukraine family scheme.The levelling up minister set out details of the new sponsorship route, allowing Britons to offer homes to Ukrainian refugees and receive a “thank you” payment of £350 per month.Mr Gove said “tens of thousands” of refugees could come through the route, and revealed that local authorities would receive £10,000 for each Ukrainian refugee sponsored in their area.The government has been criticised for insisting that British sponsors go through online paperwork and security checks on behalf of a particular, named refugee.The Refugee Council accused the government of putting too many “bureaucratic hurdles” in the way – and said “it will inevitably be restricted to those who are known to people in the UK”.Mr Gove said charities would help in the “matching process”, and said the government believed individuals and community groups would use social media to connect and fill out online paperwork together.“The alternative to that would be the government attempting to match people in Ukraine to individuals here – that could be quite a slow, bureaucratic process,” he told Sophy Ridge on Sunday.Mr Gove added: “We know charities, and we are working with them, who are working to identify people on the ground, and helping to identify people here to create the matching process.”Asked if he would personally use to scheme to offer a room to a Ukrainian refugee, Mr Gove said he is in the process of “seeking to see what I can do”.The Homes for Ukraine scheme will allow individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to bring people fleeing the war to safety, even if they have no ties to the UK.Sponsored refugees will be granted 36 months leave to remain in the UK, with entitlement to benefits and public services. Sponsors will be expected to guarantee a minimum stay of six months.But a lot of questions remain unanswered. The government appears to be expect refugees and sponsors to find each other online, or through family and friendship networks, before making an application on the website launched on Monday.Britons offering accommodation will be vetted and the Ukrainian applicants will also have to undergo security checks.Mr Gove said Britons could register their interest on a new website from Monday, and claimed “matching” would start taking place from Friday. “I would expected that in a week’s time we will see the first people arriving under this scheme,” he said.Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “By establishing a visa route and naming scheme, it will inevitably be restricted to those who are known to people in the UK”, adding that it would be a “lengthy” application process.Labour also cautioned that “too many questions remain unanswered” about the new scheme.Shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy said that if Britons were required to have a prior connection to a Ukrainian family to sponsor them, that would be a “severe limitation”.Ms Nandy said it was still unclear what support would be offered to vulnerable children and older people, whether provision would made for unaccompanied children, and what help would go to local government and housing providers.Mr Gove also appeared to suggested the government would consider a third route to Ukrainian refugees, akin to the humanitarian resettlement scheme set up to welcome Syrians from refugee camps.The minister told Sky News the UK could continue to send humanitarian to countries on the Ukrainian border. “Alongside that we can then see how many people how many we can take to the UK … there are of course many others we can support and whom we can provide a warm welcome.”Former immigration minister Caroline Nokes said security checks must be carried out at an “impressive speed” on the “brilliant people” wishing to offer homes to refugees under the government’s new sponsorship scheme.She added: “It is imperative that all these brilliant people who are contacting me and contacting charities offering up their homes, they do need to be checked. That’s a sad, stark reality. But that has to happen quickly.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has sparked criticism from children’s author JK Rowling for saying “trans women are women” and calling for a more respectful debate on the issue.The Labour leader backed calls to reform the Gender Recognition Act – but said existing UK law meant that transgender women can already be considered women.Asked to define what a woman is, Sir Keir told The Times: “A woman is a female adult, and in addition to that trans women are women, and that is not just my view – that is actually the law.”Mr Starmer added: “It has been the law through the combined effects of the 2004 [Gender Recognition] Act and the 2010 [Equality] Act. So that’s my view. It also happens to be the law in the United Kingdom.”Rowling took to Twitter to claim Sir Keir “publicly misrepresents equalities law”, adding: “Women are organising across party lines, and their resolve and their anger are growing.”The author and political campaigner said Mr Starmer’s latest comments were “yet another indication that the Labour Party can no longer be counted on to defend women’s rights”.The row followed renewed political debate over the issue, after two of Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet members appeared to struggle to define what a woman was.Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, said she did not wish to go down the “rabbit hole” of definition, while party chair Anneliese Dodds got into a row with Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin on the subject.The senior Tory told the Commons that MPs should be “clear and courageous about what a man is and what a woman is” – claiming the rights of women in women-only safe spaces such as public toilets were being “threatened”.Mr Jenkin also accused Ms Dodds of struggling to define a woman during a BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour interview, prompting the Labour MP to fire back: “It’s quite easy for me [to define], given that I am a woman.”Ms Dodds had told BBC Radio 4 that there were “different definitions legally”. But the Labour chair also said that when it came to trans women “understandably because they live as a woman, they want to be defined as a woman”.In his interview with The Times, the Labour leader said he supported reform to the Gender Recognition Act. The government has dropped plans to allow people to legally change their gender without a two-year-long process involving medical diagnosis.“The process that people have to go through does need to be looked at,” said Sir Keir. “If you talk to anybody who’s been through the process there’s a real issue about respect and dignity.”Labour MP Rosie Duffield said earlier this year she was considering leaving the party, accusing Labour officials of failing to protect her from “obsessive harassment” over the issue.Ms Duffield has come under fire over her views on trans issues, after expressing her opposition to “male-bodied biological men” being allowed to self-identify as female in order to access women-only spaces.The Canterbury MP decided to stay away from the main Labour conference at the end of last year, saying she had been unfairly branded “transphobic” for “knowing that only women have a cervix”.Asked about the row at the time if the conference in Brighton, Sir Keir said Ms Duffield was wrong to say that only women have a cervix. More

Britons opening their homes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion will receive a “thank you” payment of £350 per month, the government has announced.The Homes for Ukraine scheme, to be rolled out this week, will allow individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to bring people fleeing the war to safety – even if they have no ties to the UK.Sponsors can nominate a named Ukrainian individual or family to stay with them in their home, or offer a separate property for them to use rent-free.It comes as the government has faced criticism over the speed and scale of its efforts to bring fleeing Ukrainians to the UK.People sponsoring refugees through the new uncapped route will be required to commit to the scheme for a minimum of six months but are encouraged to keep up the offer for as long as they can.Those offering accommodation will be vetted and Ukrainian applicants will undergo security checks.A website gathering expressions of interest is set to launch on Monday.The government said it is also working to enable communities, the voluntary sector and charitable and religious organisations to sponsor groups of Ukrainians.Cabinet minister Michael Gove said the UK “stands behind Ukraine in their darkest hour” and urged people to “join the national effort” to help refugees as he announced the plan on Saturday night.The levelling up, housing and communities secretary said: “The crisis in Ukraine has sent shock waves across the world as hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been forced to flee their homes, leaving everything they know and love behind.“Together we can give a safe home to those who so desperately need it.”Mr Gove is also calling for Russian oligarchs’ multi-million-pound mansions to be seized and used to house Ukrainian refugees as “payback”, according to the Mail on Sunday.Ukrainians who have sponsors will be granted three years’ leave to remain in the UK, with entitlement to work and access public services.Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford have said both Scotland and Wales are willing to become “super sponsors” for Ukrainian refugees.In a letter to Mr Gove, they also renewed their calls on Westminster to waive all visa requirements for Ukrainian nationals trying to get into the UK.The governments in Holyrood and Cardiff said super sponsorship would enable Ukrainians to get clearance to enter each country quickly and be housed temporarily while they work with local partners to provide longer-term accommodation, safeguarding and access to services.Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi announced on Saturday that online lessons will be made available to 100,000 refugee pupils as they transition to “life and safety” in the UK.He told BBC’s Question Time earlier in the week: “What you are seeing now is a surge in our capability to take more Ukrainians.“I can tell you in my own department in education, I have a team that’s already making plans for a capacity of 100,000 children that we will take into our schools.”Responding to Mr Gove’s announcement, Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, said too many questions still remained unanswered.“We have known for weeks that generous Brits want to help Ukrainians fleeing war,” she said.“The problem is that once again the government has failed to plan and has been dragging its feet.“We still need far more urgency and too many questions remain unanswered. More

Boris Johnson has told the Irish premier that “significant changes” are still needed to the protocol – after the taoiseach said there is a growing view in Northern Ireland that the Brexit deal is working.Micheal Martin said “everyone he has met” in Northern Ireland wants continued access to the EU single market as he met Mr Johnson in London for talks.The taoiseach’s comments come after Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would not resume the power-sharing arrangement until the UK-EU protocol row is resolved.Mr Martin suggested the hotly contested issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol would not be resolved by the time of the province’s May elections – saying London and Brussels would strike a deal “in the fullness of time”.Speaking to reporters ahead of talks with the prime minister in London, Mr Martin said business leaders north of the border thought the Northern Irish economy was benefiting from current arrangements.“What’s very interesting from our perspective, though, is that what’s increasing and growing is a view within Northern Ireland, particularly in Northern Ireland business and industry, that the protocol is working in terms of inward investment into Northern Ireland, and in terms of access to the EU single market,” he said.Mr Martin told reporters: “So anybody I’ve met in Northern Ireland all want to continue access to the EU single market. It’s a good basic principle to start off on.”However, Mr Johnson insisted that “significant changes” were still needed to the agreement, as foreign secretary Liz Truss continues to lead talks on easing border checks with her EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic.A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister reiterated the need to make significant changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol in order to protect peace and stability in Northern Ireland and safeguard the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its dimensions.“He said that while greater ambition and flexibility was needed from the EU in the negotiations, it was his hope that the same spirit of co-operation that had characterised the UK-EU relationship in respect of Ukraine could also be applied to resolving the issues with the protocol.”The Irish leader – who attended the England v Ireland rugby match at Twickenham on Saturday with Mr Johnson – defended his decision not to consult the UK before deciding to waive visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees.“It was never on that we would be acting outside of the European Union approach to this,” he said. “I think the UK would have been well aware of the direction of travel of the European Union in respect of this measure.”Asked if he would encourage Mr Johnson to take in more people fleeing the war in Ukraine, the taoiseach said: “Well to be fair I’m not here to tell Boris Johnson what to do,” before adding: “I have to acknowledge the leadership of the UK government in terms of the sanctions it has imposed on Russia.”The meeting in London follows the latest remarks by the DUPs leader, who was applauded at Crossgar Orange Hall on Friday night for saying his party would not re-enter the Stormont Executive until Mr Johnson’s government acts to “protect Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom”.Paul Givan resigned as first minister earlier this year as part of the DUP’s action against the protocol in a move which also removed Sinn Fein’s deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill from the joint office. More