UK Politics

Boris Johnson and officials at No 10 are said to have halted Home Office plans to expand the UK’s offer to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.Home secretary Priti Patel has come in for fierce criticism from both Conservative and Labour MPs for her response to the Ukraine refugee crisis and the insistence on visa requirements.Downing Street intervened to stop a plan by Ms Patel to open up a new “humanitarian route” for refugees fleeing the war, according to Sky News, citing government sources.“The problem is No 10 – the PM and [chief of staff] Steve Barclay – who are personally slapping this down,” one source told the broadcaster.On Monday Ms Patel told The Sun she was “urgently escalating” the government’s response and was “now investigating the legal options to create a humanitarian route”.But No 10 has been cautious on the idea of opening up routes for large numbers of Ukrainians to come to the UK without extensive checks.Downing Street is also understood to have reigned in a Home Office plan to allow the family members of Ukrainians on temporary visas enter the UK. Only those with permanent visas can currently bring in family.Only 1,305 Ukrainian refugees have been granted with a visa under the Home Office’s family migration scheme, the government said on Friday – despite tens of thousands applying for refuge.Levelling up secretary Michael Gove has been tasked with setting up a new sponsorship route that will allow local authorities, community groups and individuals to provide a home to Ukrainian refugees.But refugee charities have told The Independent that Ukrainians may end up in hotels and hostels because of the “decimation” of official resettlement programme funding.They warned that sponsorship scheme set to be launched by Mr Gove on Monday should not replace large-scale state humanitarian programmes, amid fears that community groups could be expected to “pick up the pieces”.Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, told The Independent that the failure to maintain previous resettlement programmes had left the UK unprepared for an influx of refugees.“That is why 12,000 Afghan refugees are still stuck in hotels seven months on from the Afghanistan evacuation, and why we are deeply concerned that the government is considering similar forms of “temporary” accommodation for Ukrainians.”The Times reported that the government expects accommodation providers such as hotels, landlords and B&B owners to form “the bulk of offers” under the new sponsorship scheme.Britons keen to house Ukrainian refugees under the government’s new sponsorship scheme will need to agree to do so for at least six months, reports suggest.But uncertainty remains about the length of time sponsored refugees will be allowed to stay, and the leve of benefits the new arrivals will be allowed to claim.It was thought that Ukrainians welcomed under the sponsorship scheme would be allowed to stay for an initial period of 12 months. But there are concerns that it would put them at odds with refugees coming through the Ukrainian family visa scheme entitled to remain in the UK for 36 months.It comes as the French president Emmanuel Macron accused the UK of failing to live up to its “grand statements” on helping Ukrainian refugees.“I would hope that the Ukrainian men and women who have lived through horror and crossed Europe to reach their families on UK territory will be better treated,” said Mr Macron, following the difficulties some have had in applying for visas at Calais and elsewhere.On Thursday, Ms Patel announced that from Tuesday people will be able to apply online for a visa and will no longer have to go to a processing centre to give their biometrics.“We are now making the process quicker and simpler by removing the need to physically visit visa application centres for many of those who are making the perilous journey across Europe,” said a Home Office spokesperson.A government spokesperson denied claims of a row between No 10 and the Home Office over routes for Ukrainian refugees.“The government is united and working at pace to deliver our new sponsorship route which will allow individuals and organisations in the UK to provide accommodation and support for Ukrainian refugees,” said the spokesperson. More

Britain’s households are facing a £38bn hit on energy bills in the year ahead due to the soaring costs of wholesale gas and electricity, new analysis has found.Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to set out extra help for families struggling with the cost of living crisis, as the war in Ukraine causes major spikes in energy prices.Fuel bills are set to rise almost £700 in April when the energy price cap is raised – but experts are now warning that further increases are now “baked in” for the coming winter.Regulator Ofgem will need to impose another 50 per cent rise in the energy price cap from October and push average energy bills over £3,000, economists at Investec and Goldman have estimated.Analysts at Aurora Energy Research told the Financial Times the move would increase households’ gas and electricity consumption to £74bn in the year ahead, an increase of £38bn since last year.“It’s a hugely substantial impact, especially on lower-income households,” said Dan Monzani, a managing director at Aurora Energy Research.Last month Mr Sunak announced plans for an energy rebate loan, giving all households discounts of around £200 in October, which is then to be repaid over give years.But the chancellor so far resisted calls to take further action to ease some of the pressure on hard-pressed families from rising fuel bills.Labour has called for further help through windfall tax on oil companies, with Sir Keir Starmer warning that families could see a further £1,000 spike in household bills this autumn.Mr Sunak held meetings with several worried Conservative MPs this week to listen to the ideas on how to help households with soaring energy bills, PoliticsHome has reported.One Tory MP said: “I’ve never seen the fear in peoples’ eyes that I’m seeing at the moment, people are genuinely scared. People are scared and I don’t blame them. He has got to do something.”Some MPs are understood to have asked the chancellor if he could expand the support given to the poorest households, while he is also facing calls from Tory backbenchers to cut fuel duty and the green levies from fuel bills.On Friday Mr Sunak said he would continue to “monitor” the economic impact of the Ukraine crisis. “We have provided unprecedented support throughout the pandemic which has put our economy in a strong position to deal with current cost-of-living challenges,” he said.The chancellor added: “We know that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is creating significant economic uncertainty and we will continue to monitor its impact on the UK.”Money saving expert Martin Lewis has accused the government of trying to blame the Ukraine war for the cost of living crisis – when people were already at risk of “starving or freezing”.Ahead of a mini-Budget in two weeks’ time, he urged Mr Sunak to take further action. “We are going to see a real increase in genuine poverty in this country, millions of people being thrown into poverty,” he told the BBC. More

The government has admitted it is not keeping track of how long lorry drivers are having to sit in queues at Dover thanks to new Brexit bureaucracy. Hauliers going to the continent have been intermittently stuck in rolling tailbacks since the UK left the European Union, with new paperwork and red tape causeing major disruption to trade.But ministers now say they have not been monitoring the length of delays – and that data collected by the port authorities themselves cannot be shared with them for “security” reasons.It comes as the Liberal Democrats called for the introduction of a new waiting time standard so that no lorry is left waiting more than 20 minutes at the border. Reports emerged this week of grassroots aid for Ukraine, including ambulances, getting stuck at the border because of export red tape imposed by Brexit.The problem of backed-up lorries got worse in January this year after a customs declaration grace period ended, resulting in a six-mile (10km) tailback on roads leading to the port.Asked for data on the delays at Dover, which processes 75 per cent of all roll-on-roll-off freight arriving by ferry from Europe, junior Conservative transport minister Robert Court said: “The Department does not hold data on the length of time spent by hauliers waiting to board a ferry at Dover. “The Port of Dover operates a ‘turn up and go service’ meaning HGVs will be placed on to the first available ferry when they arrive at the Port. “There may be an occasion when hauliers have to wait which may be due to peak periods of traffic at the Port.”A spokesperson for the Department for Transport added that “for security purposes, all data on waiting times is held centrally by the ports and it is at their discretion to publish this information”. The spokesperson said: “We work closely with the Kent Resilience Forum on its traffic management plans to ensure waiting times are kept to a minimum and that any delays are communicated to hauliers via the appropriate channels.”But Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Europe Layla Moran said the situation was “absurd” and called for ministers to get a grip on the situation with new targets.“At a time when people up and down the country are caught in a cost of living crisis, the Conservatives should be making trade easier. Instead businesses are tangled up in red tape and lorries are stuck in tailbacks, including those carrying vital aid to Ukraine,” she said.“We’re in the absurd situation where astronauts in outer space appear to know more about the length of the Dover tailbacks than our own government does. “It’s about time ministers got a handle on the length of the lorry queues in Dover. The Conservatives must bring forward waiting time standards and publish regular figures so we can hold them to account. If the Government has nothing to hide, they will have nothing to fear.”The Independent has approached the Port of Dover for further comment. More

The Liberal Democrats are to set out a roadmap for Britain to rejoin the European Union’s single market – reversing the most damaging parts of Brexit.The party’s spring conference is on Saturday expected to back a policy calling for the UK’s economic re-integration with the EU once “the ties of trust and friendship are renewed”.The plan is a response to amid widespread disruption to trade between Britain and the EU thanks to the government’s “hard” Brexit.New red tape introduced by leaving the EU has seen queues of lorries at ports, plummeting exports, and companies quitting the market altogether. A new policy paper backed by the liberal party’s leadership says that “the best option, bringing most benefits to the UK economy and society, is to seek to join the single market”.This would give UK businesses full access to the European Economic Area, reintroduce freedom of movement, and resolve outstanding issues with the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, the party says.The first step of the roadmap calls for “immediate” initiatives to repair the UK-EU relationship, including granting full settled status to EU citizens and ramping up the British presence in Brussels.The party would then gradually phase in UK-EU cooperation on issues like the Erasmus Plus university programme and the caring for of asylum seekers.It would then push for a series of reciprocal deals on issues like recognition of professional qualifications, fast-track work visas, and a veterinary agreement.Only then “once the trading relationship between the UK and the EU is deepened, and the ties of trust and friendship are renewed” would the party seek to join the single market, while remaining outside the European Union itself.Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats’ Europe spokesperson, cited the war in Ukraine as an illustration of why the UK and EU “cannot afford to be disunited”.”For too long, our ties with Europe have been defined by petty squabbling and the government’s overly ideological approach,” she said.”British people and small businesses who are tangled in red tape are paying the price and they deserve better.“The reality is that we need a way forward which works for Britain – one where we stand with our allies, reduce costs for businesses and make people better off as a result.“Our comprehensive roadmap will start a new trading relationship with Europe – with British businesses and families benefiting as a result.”Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey this week made a pitch for a coalition with Labour after the next election – and has previously suggested he would not work with Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.Labour’s Europe policy is less ambitious than the liberals’, and calls relatively minor changes to the governemnt’s Brexit deal, like a new veterinary agreement. The party has declined to back single market membership or free movement – despite a pledge by Keir Starmer at the party’s leadership election.UK to EU exports fell 12 per cent between January and December of last year, compared to the previous year – with supply chain disruption, new trade barriers, and additional red tape caused by Brexit cited as the main reasons.Sales to the EU dropped more sharply in 2021 than exports to any other country in the world, according to the data. Non-EU exports were also down by 6 per cent – suggesting the rest of the world is not stepping in to fill the gap. More

Refugee workers have warned that Ukrainians seeking sanctuary from war may end up in hotel accommodation because of the “decimation” of official resettlement programmes.They warned that sponsorship schemes of the kind that is set to be launched by Michael Gove on Monday should supplement, not replace, large-scale state programmes, amid fears that generous communities were being expected to “pick up the pieces” in the absence of official help.Meanwhile, Labour accused the government of “dragging its feet” over the scheme, which was first announced by Boris Johnson a fortnight ago but was reportedly delayed by wrangling over the benefits to be granted to the new arrivals.Shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy said it would be “unconscionable” if it was as cumbersome as a similar programme set up in 2016 during the Syrian war, which has taken up to two years to place refugees and has so far helped only around 660.The new humanitarian sponsorship scheme will allow individuals, charities, businesses and communities to open a route for Ukrainians without family links to enter the UK, by offering them accommodation and support, potentially for six months.There will be no cap on numbers, and government sources believe tens of thousands could take up the offer.A hotline and website will be set up for volunteers, and each offer of accommodation will be vetted for safety. They will then be matched with Ukrainians who have been through Home Office checks after applying for help.The plan was first announced by the prime minister on 1 March amid criticism over the UK’s failure to follow EU allies and simply waive visas for Ukrainians fleeing Vladmir Putin’s war.But its launch is understood to have been held up by a departmental spat over whether arrivals should be given full refugee status, entitling them to receive assistance including housing benefit and child benefit, or a temporary status offering more restricted support.It is understood that they will be allowed to work and access public services for an initial period of 12 months. It is not thought that hosts will receive payment for welcoming them in.The proposal has already prompted a generous response from the British public, with 1,500 offers of help received by the Sanctuary Foundation, and 500 in the past week alone by Reset, an organisation helping churches and charities sponsor refugees.Refugees at Home, a charity helping individuals provide accommodation, said applications had soared from 20 a fortnight to around 1,000 in the two weeks since the outbreak of war.But Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said that the plans had so far been “vague at best”, with no detail about how the scheme would work or what funding would be provided by the government.“This is all the more frustrating given the clear desire from people up and down the country to support Ukrainian refugees in their communities, who would jump at the chance to do so through sponsorship,” said Mr Solomon.“For any scheme to be a success, we must see the government working quickly and effectively to have a clear plan in place, and funding allocated to enable councils, health services, schools and communities to best prepare for welcoming Ukrainian refugees through a comprehensive programme of support.”Charities have expressed doubt that the new sponsorship scheme can be scaled up quickly, since it will require a lot of time, training and paperwork to organise. Groups are expected to provide refugees with support accessing benefits and services, as well as a home.Kate Brown, co-director at Reset, said: “The existing Community Sponsorship scheme has shown how friends and neighbours can welcome refugees, and we believe there are many lessons that can be learnt from this amazing work.“However, the existing scheme takes time to prepare and get ready for, and it would not be suitable for responding to emergency situations [like] this.”Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action, told The Independent that the failure to maintain previous resettlement programmes had left the UK unprepared for an influx of refugees, with the result that thousands fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last summer are still in “temporary” hotel accommodation.Official data shows that the number of people who come to Britain under refugee resettlement schemes has plummeted by 75 per cent in the last four years, from 6,212 in 2017 to 1,578 in 2021.“Ministers have decimated our once-successful refugee resettlement programmes to the point where they have been left unable to respond effectively to the conflict in Ukraine,” said Mr Hilton.“By scrapping the UK’s long-term resettlement commitments, the government has left local authorities unable to invest in services and keep a stock of housing for refugees.“That is why 12,000 Afghan refugees are still stuck in hotels seven months on from the Afghanistan evacuation, and why we are deeply concerned that the government is considering similar forms of “temporary” accommodation for Ukrainians.”There are already 37,000 asylum seekers and Afghan refugees living in hotels awaiting more permanent homes, costing taxpayers almost £5m per day.Mr Hilton said that sponsorship schemes were “a wonderful way for communities to support refugees”.But he warned: “These schemes were only ever envisaged to be additional to large-scale government resettlement programmes that are the only way to manage much greater numbers at pace. And it’s being able to welcome high numbers of refugees at speed that is exactly what is needed in a crisis.“We are left with the impression that the government is leaving it to communities to pick up the pieces of a UK refugee protection system that has been run into the ground. This is simply not good enough.”He called on MPs to back House of Lords amendments to the government’s Refugees Bill, currently going through parliament, to create a commitment to resettle 10,000 people every year.Ms Nandy said: “Weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, the British people stand ready and willing to help while their government drags its feet. “Excessive bureaucracy and a lack of planning cannot be allowed to get in the way of sanctuary for people fleeing Putin. The government is behaving as if these were ordinary times. This is an extraordinary challenge and it calls for extraordinary measures.”Home Office minister Baroness Williams said 1,305 visas for Ukrainian refugees with family links in the UK had been issued by Thursday.Mr Johnson has said that the family route could eventually assist as many as 200,000 people, but with more than 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing their homeland, the numbers so far taken by Britain are dwarfed by those accepted by neighbouring Poland, Hungary and Slovakia and the 250,000-plus who have fled elsewhere in the EU.The former head of the diplomatic service, Peter Ricketts, told the House of Lords on Friday that Britain must improve its “inadequate” cooperation with the EU to prevent scenes like those in Calais, when hundreds of Ukrainians were turned away as they tried to reach their families in the UK.“Given the number of traumatised Ukrainian citizens who are now leaving the country, this flow of refugees is bound to continue for months, conceivably years,” said Lord Ricketts.“We really do need to be working well with our EU partners if we’re going to avoid damaging the climate of confidence, which is so important for good law enforcement and judicial cooperation.”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. More

The UK has imposed sanctions on 386 members of the Russian parliament who voted in favour of Vladimir Putin’s actions in breakaway regions of Ukraine, foreign secretary Liz Truss has announced.The new measures will ban those listed from travelling to the UK, accessing assets held within the UK and doing business here.All are members of the Duma lower house of the Russian parliament who voted last month in favour of the ratification of treaties recognising the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and authorising the permanent presence of Russian military.The vote has been used by Putin as a pretext for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, now in its 15th day.Plans to sanction the Duma members were announced shortly after the invasion but were delayed by legislation requiring an individual legal case to be drawn up against each of them. Challenged today over why the move had taken so long, when the same individuals were sanctioned by the EU on 22 February, a Downing Street spokesperson said the government wanted to ensure they had a “watertight cases” on all. It had been established that each “aided and abetted” Putin’s assault on Ukraine, he said.The spokesperson declined to say whether No 10 was aware of any of the individuals holding assets in the UK, but confirmed they would be allowed to travel to Britain.Ms Truss said: “We’re targeting those complicit in Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and those who support this barbaric war. We will not let up the pressure and will continue to tighten the screw on the Russian economy through sanctions.“Together with our allies, we stand firmly beside our Ukrainian friends. We will continue to support Ukraine with humanitarian aid, defensive weapons and diplomatic work to isolate Russia internationally.”Ms Truss added: We mean what we say. With our allies and partners, we will cripple the Russian economy and cut off Putin’s war machine.”Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy responded: “Labour welcomes that the Government has finally imposed sanctions on members of the Duma, but this should have happened weeks ago.”Ministers must urgently implement the other sanction measures Labour has been calling for to cut Putin and his criminal cronies out of our economic system.” The move follows Thursday’s blacklisting of Putin-linked oligarchs including Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.It brings the total number of individuals, entities and subsidiaries sanctioned by the UK since the 24 February invasion to more than 500, including 18 oligarchs with a combined worth in excess of £30bn.The treaties of “friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance” between the Russian Federation and the so-called people’s republics of Lugansk and Donetsk were presented to the State Duma on 22 February by Putin and unanimously approved.They involved the recognition – without Ukraine’s agreement – of independent republics in areas of Ukrainian sovereign territory where separatist groups have been fighting to break away from Kyiv since the 2014 war which saw Russia seize Crimea.The Duma’s speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said at the time of the vote: “This is the only way to protect people, stop the fratricidal war, prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and bring peace.” More

The government has issued a plea to military veterans not to go to Ukraine, amid growing evidence of former soldiers travelling to the country to help in the fight against Russian invasion.Veterans minister Leo Docherty wrote to military charities seeking their help in dissuading any ex-servicemen and women from going ahead with plans to travel to the eastern European state.He said they should instead be encouraged to support charitable and fundraising efforts to provide help to those under assault by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.Boris Johnson on Thursday warned that serving members of the armed forces who make unauthorised visits to Ukraine to fight will face courts martial on return, and Mr Docherty warned that veterans too could find themselves falling foul of the law.And he said that “well-meaning” Brits travelling to the war zone could end up straining the resources of Ukrainian defenders.The Independent’s defence and security editor Kim Sengupta, who is in Ukraine, has spoken with a British Army reservist who is among a number of serving and former members of the armed forces to help in the struggle against Russian invaders as part of the International Legion.The non-commissioned officer, identified only by his middle name Mark, said: “They are putting up a great fight, and we can help.”In today’s letter, Mr Docherty told military charities: “I am asking for your assistance in diverting and dissuading any travel attempts that come to your attention.“The UK government’s position remains that travelling to Ukraine to fight, or to assist others engaged in the conflict, may amount to offences against UK legislation and could lead to prosecution.“Ukraine needs equipment and funds rather than volunteers who, although well meaning, will put further pressure on stretched resources. I am very concerned about the risk to individuals in what is a dangerous situation.”Mr Docherty said: “We know that Russia’s illegal invasion has rightly brought out strong feelings of support for the Ukrainian people.“Veterans always step up in times of need, but they must channel their skills, experience and passion into legal routes of support for Ukraine and not engage in the conflict.“There are many ways that we all can support the people of Ukraine, including through donating money to charity.”The British Army has confirmed that a small number of soldiers had gone to Ukraine. Some of the regulars and reservists have taken leave to do so, only one has simply left his duties.Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, has told service personnel that the “sound of gunfire” was not “something you want to rush to”, it would be “unlawful and unhelpful” to do so and urged them to support Ukraine in other ways. More