UK Politics

Johnson ‘fears’ Putin will use chemical weapons in UkraineThe UK government has sanctioned 386 members of the Duma – the lower house of the Russian parliament- for their support to recognise the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent entities.It ratified treaties in February which recognised the independence of the two regions, which are part of Ukrainian sovereign territory.They also authorised the permanent presence of Russian military there, which the FCDO has said acted as a pretext for Russia’s invasion.Foreign Secretary Liz 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.”Meanwhile, technology minister Chris Philp has warned president Vladimir Putin will face a “dramatic increased response” from the West if he deploys chemical weapons in Ukraine.Show latest update

1647008450Sadiq Khan applauds judge’s condemnation of Met’s ‘unacceptable’ conduct at Sarah Everard vigilMayor of London Sadiq Khan has welcomed the High Court’s condemnation of the Met for breaching the rights of the Reclaim These Streets group who cancelled a vigil for Sarah Everard.Mr Khan said: “The murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer damaged the confidence of Londoners in the police. In the wake of such a horrendous crime, the policing of the vigil in her memory eroded trust in the police further.“I was very clear with the Met at the time, that the scenes we saw at the vigil were unacceptable. I welcome today’s judgment.“A series of events in the past year have damaged confidence in the police and urgent and wide-reaching action is needed to restore it. I remain committed to doing everything in my power to hold the police to account and working with the Met to deliver on the changes needed.“We know tens of thousands of dedicated Met officers have gone above and beyond throughout this pandemic – but it is clear today that there are still serious lessons to be learned in how their duties are carried out.”Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 14:201647007716Ireland sends blood bags and medical masks to Ukraine Ireland has sent 4,000 blood bags and 50,000 medical masks to Ukraine in a bid to aid the health service amid the ongoing Russian invasion.The Irish Blood Transfusion Service 4,000 blood bags were donated by and dispatched to Ukraine on Monday, while 10,000 bio-protection suits, 50,000 medical-grade masks and more than 2,500 litres of disinfectant were sent today.Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 14:081647006540Government warns military veterans not to go and fight in UkraineVeterans 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.Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 13:491647005730No 10 reminds Chelsea fans of Abramovich’s alleged links to PutinA spokesperson for prime minister Boris Johnson has reminded Chelsea fans of the allegation that Roman Abramovich has supported Putin after they apparently chanted his name.He said: “We understand the strength of feelings that Chelsea fans will have and the passion for their club, but it’s important to remember that these sanctions are being imposed on those who have provided support to the Putin regime and the brutal assault on Ukraine.”Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 13:351647005043No 10 declines to say if sanctioned Russian lawmakers have UK assetsDowning Street has refused to comment on whether any of the 386 sanctioned members of the Russian Duma have any assets in Britain.The prime minister’s spokesperson said: “The measures we put in place will ensure that any assets they do have in the UK will be frozen and they will no longer be able to travel to the UK or do any business here, but I wouldn’t go through the details of individuals.”Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 13:241647004498Downing St warns of ‘robust’ response to chemical weaponsNo 10 have has warned of a “robust” response against Russia if the Moscow deploys chemical weapons in Ukraine.Asked how the UK responded to chemical attacks before, a spokesman for Boris Johnson said: “You saw after the Salisbury poisoning the UK’s response as well as the response of other nations.“But I wouldn’t get into hypotheticals, you’ve seen what the prime minister said about the use of chemical weapons and the fact we’re calling for Russia not to use them.“The international community has always responded robustly following the use of chemical weapons, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals and try and look into the future, but you’ve seen what the prime minister’s said and we continue to call for Russia not to use chemical weapons.”Asked about technology minister Chris Philp’s warning of an “increased response” in the event of a chemical attack, the spokesman said: “You heard what the minister said this morning, I think that mirrors what I’ve just said, the international community has always responded robustly.”Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 13:141647003807UK issues 1,305 visas to Ukrainian refugeesAs of Thursday morning, 1,305 visas for Ukrainian refugees had been issued, home office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said. “Those figures are going up rapidly and that is a good thing,” she told the House of Lords.Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 13:031647003033Watch: Keir Starmer urges government to go ‘further and faster’ with Russian sanctionsKeir Starmer urges government to go ‘further and faster’ with Russian sanctionsEmily Atkinson11 March 2022 12:501647001533Ukrainian refugees: How can I take part in the new sponsorship scheme?Britons will soon be asked to open their homes to Ukrainians fleeing their country, as part of a new “sponsored” humanitarian route to allow more refugees to travel to the UK.The route will give Ukrainians without family links to the UK the opportunity come to the country in order to escape the war against Russia.It comes after the government faced criticism for its response to the refugee crisis. Michael Gove, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, is expected to set out details of the new route on Monday.Here is Kate Ng with everything we know about how the scheme will work and how you can get involved:Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 12:251647000033Britain to offer 100,000 Ukranian refugee children online lessonsEducation secretary Nadhim Zahawi has announced that 100,000 refugee pupils will be offered online lessons as they transition to “life and safety” in the UK.Lessons will also be available translated into Ukrainian or Russian, he added, as some refugee pupils will speak Russian as a first language.Addressing the Association of School and College Leaders’ annual conference in Birmingham on Friday, he said: “We will continue to support Ukrainians in any way we can.“I know schools are doing what they can to support their students make sense of what they are seeing.”“And we are working with schools to ensure that the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children we will welcome to our shores will have a place in our education system.“To support schools’ efforts, I’m delighted to announce that Oak National Academy has today rolled out an auto-translate function across all 10,000 of its online lessons.“This will allow Ukrainian children arriving in the UK to access education in their native language as they transition into life and safety in the UK.”Emily Atkinson11 March 2022 12:00 More

“Fundamental questions remain” over the government’s plan to draft the military in to curb the rise in Channel crossings – a decision that appears to have been “borne of desperation”, cross-party MPs have warned.A report by the Defence Committee lambasts the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for “squabbling” over the use of “pushbacks tactic” to deal with small boats trying to reach England from France, calling exchanges in the Commons and on Twitter “deeply unedifying”.Ministers announced in January that the Royal Navy was to be put in charge of cross-Channel counter-migration activity on the English coast, known as Operation Isotrope, taking over from Border Force to take “operational primacy” of the situation.Defence minister James Heappey said last month that the operation would seek to prevent the arrival of small boats “on their own terms” in the UK while protecting lives at sea, adding the MoD was working closely with the Home Office and others.But a new report from the Defence Committee has called Operation Isotrope an “ill-defined” policy announced “prematurely” and which “threatens to tarnish the Royal Navy’s reputation”.The committee warns that the MoD, and especially the Royal Navy, was “already over-stretched and under-resourced”, and that the additional responsibility would place “huge pressure on a department with a demanding-enough brief”.“The decision to call in the armed forces to address migrant crossings has far-reaching implications across government, yet fundamental questions remain over Operation Isostrope. The services cannot become a fourth blue light service,” said Mr Spellar.“In order to meet the demands of this new policy, we should be under no illusion that sacrifices to defence will be made elsewhere. The government should set clear parameters for Operation Isotrope and announce a definitive end date and handover back to the Border Force.”Following the announcement of the MoD’s involvement, the armed forces minister told the House of Commons three times that the Royal Navy and Royal Marines would not engage in “pushbacks” – a controversial tactic whereby small boats are physically turned around.But two weeks later, home secretary Priti Patel told the Home Affairs Select Committee that while the armed forces minister had given his “view”, the operational work between the two departments was “a work in progress”.This resulted in a tweet from the MoD press office stating: “The Royal Navy and the Royal Marines will not be using push back tactics in the English Channel, although a military commander will retain the existing ability to instruct Border Force to use them when appropriate.”The committee questions whether announcing the policy before agreeing the detail was a “wise move or rather one borne of desperation”, adding that it hopes “lessons will be learned” from this experience.John Spellar, vice-chair of the Defence Committee, said: “The policy announcement left much to be desired. Squabbling between the great offices of state severely undermines public confidence in government. Government policies should be carefully planned and considered, not rushed out to quash less-than-favourable frontpages.The report also warns that the police “threatens to tarnish the Royal Navy’s reputation”, as it has “other, more pressing priorities” may be legally unable to be effective in the role, instead becoming a “taxi service” for migrants crossing the Channel.It comes after, one week after the plans were announced, the Defence Committee sought to question government representatives about the plans during an evidence session – but the MoD declined to put forward a minister or official.The report adds: “The fact that, six weeks on from the initial announcement, the government is still unable (or unwilling) to answer questions about this issue does not inspire confidence.”The committee has called on the government to set out which existing Royal Navy commitments will be given up in order to divert resources to the operation – and for a “clear end point” at which the operation will be handed back over to the Border Force.The MoD has been approached for comment. More

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has today set out a bold plan to help families weather the cost of living crisis with a one-year 2.5 per cent cut in VAT, paid for in part by an extended windfall tax on energy companies.Speaking to The Independent on the eve of his party’s annual spring conference, Sir Ed said Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have failed to take the “radical” steps needed to shelter voters from what is shaping up to be the harshest economic storm for 50 years.He said the cut in VAT from 20 to 17.5 per cent would put an average £600 a year in the pockets of struggling families.The £18bn cost would be funded partly from borrowing – “the right thing to do in a one-off crisis”, he says – and partly from an increase in the “Robin Hood” tax on North Sea oil and gas giants demanded by Lib Dems.Having previously called for a £5bn levy, Sir Ed now says he would boost the take to somewhere around £10bn to reflect the additional profits being made “on the back of Putin’s aggression” in Ukraine.He said it was “bizarre” to see Mr Johnson opposing a levy in the Commons on Wednesday – effectively “defending the profits of oil and gas companies and refusing to do something for families”.This was another example of the Tories, for all their low-tax rhetoric, “taking voters for granted” when it actually comes to easing financial burdens on ordinary people, he said. The Lib Dem windfall tax was actually “more fiscally responsible” than Sunak’s energy discount – which would have to be repaid – while offering more help to households, he insisted.“The Tories seem to have lost their way,” Sir Ed told The Independent. “We’re a party of fair taxes. That’s what we’ve always talked about, as long as I’ve been in the party. And, at the moment, fair taxes requires tax cuts.”The cost of living initiative forms part of a conference which he said would focus firmly on the bread-and-butter issues which helped Lib Dem seize the seats of Chesham & Amersham and Shropshire North from Tories in recent by-election upsets.To the frustration of many of his members, it will also mean continuing his drive to shake off the party’s image as a single-issue anti-Brexit movement and swearing off calls for an imminent return to the EU – something Sir Ed says is “a long, long way off”.In place of a Rejoin message, the Lib Dems will be publishing a paper – product of a year’s research – setting out the practical problems caused by Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal to groups ranging from manfacturers to supermarkets, fishermen, farmers and musicians and proposing means of alleviating them.“It sets out ways we can improve on Johnson’s bad deal, reduce costs, make trade easier, rebuild relationships and trust with Europe,” said Sir Ed. “It takes people through the argument very much in a pro-European way – there’s no change on that. But it’s deeply practical, it’s realistic and it doesn’t ignore Leave voters.”Leave-voting farmers appalled at the way Johnson’s deals have cut them off from EU markets while paving the way for undercutting by Austalia and New Zealand were part of the coalition which delivered the seismic 37 per cent swing to Lib Dems in Shropshire North in December.And in typical Lib Dem fashion, the party leader says his troops aim to capitalise on local concerns to target more Tory seats in the so-called blue wall of traditionally Conservative constituencies.One key issue which rarely dominates political debate but where he feels the government is vulnerable is sewage.“This is coming from talking to voters on doorsteps,” he said. “So many Conservative MPs – including in blue-wall seats – voted in the way they did to allow utility companies to dump sewage in local rivers and streams and lakes. I mean, people don’t like that. They really, really don’t like that.”Just three weeks ago, Davey said he was putting his party on an election footing in case of an early poll if Johnson was forced out by Partygate. Today, he’s not so sure, saying only “we have to be ready whenever it comes”.He insists that Ukraine has not got the PM off the hook for lockdown-breaching Downing Street parties, which he confidently asserts “will come back to bite him”.And he was equally confident, for the leader of a party struggling to top 10 per cent in the polls, in stating that, whenever the election comes, “we think we can get rid of a lot of Tory MPs”.The vast majority of Lib Dem target seats – including Dominic Raab’s Esher & Walton – are Tory-held, and he said it was simply an “arithmetical truth” that if voters in many areas want to remove the Conservative government they will have to vote for his party.He once again denied any formal arrangement with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour to carve up election battlegrounds.But he said that recent by-elections have made clear that the two parties are each making their own assessments of where to unleash campaign money and manpower and where to hold back.“Because we don’t have unlimited resources, you put those resources, if you’re sensible, in areas where you can win, and you don’t waste your resources in areas where you can’t win,” he said. “It’s just logic. I’m not privy to Labour’s discussions, but I’m sure they don’t have lots of money to waste either.”While restating that – unlike predecessor Nick Clegg – he would “never put the Conservatives back in”, Davey was warier about stating whether he would be ready to prop up a Starmer government in a hung parliament.And he insisted that his refusal to join Tories in government would be unchanged if they switched leader to someone less unpalatable than Johnson, such as Sunak or Liz Truss.“I’ve said all along that Johnson is unfit to be prime minister,” he said. “But they are all responsible. They allowed Johnson to become prime minister. They’re all Boris Johnsons now.”The Lib Dem spring conference takes place online from Friday to Sunday, apart for Sir Ed’s keynote speech to activists in York on Sunday. More

Boris Johnson has promised more sanctions on oligarchs linked to Vladimir Putin, after the UK slapped asset freezes and travel bans on Roman Abramovich and six others said to have “the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands”.The prime minister said there could be “no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine” and promised the UK will be “ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies”.The long-demanded move means Abramovich-owned Chelsea Football Club can sell no more tickets or merchandise, and there will be a ban on transfers and new contracts. The projected £2bn sale of the club can go ahead only if none of the profit goes to the Russian billionaire.The club has been granted a special licence to allow it to complete the season, and tickets already purchased remain valid, but gloomy fans were resigned to a period of deep uncertainty after 19 years of rouble-fuelled glory.Chelsea Supporters’ Trust member Dan Silver said fans may have to swallow a “trophy wilderness” lasting as long as 10 years, but added: “So be it. We just want to make sure there is a Chelsea Football Club moving forward for us and for future generations.”Abramovich, 55, has always denied maintaining close personal or financial links with Putin. His ownership of Chelsea has long been seen as a form of insurance protecting him from being tied to the fortunes of the Russian president.But in an announcement on Thursday, the UK government said he has had a “close relationship” with Putin for decades, resulting in “financial benefit or other material benefit”.These included tax breaks for his companies, the buying and selling of shares from and to the state at favourable rates, and contracts linked to the 2018 Fifa World Cup.The businessman “is or has been involved in destabilising Ukraine” via the steel firm Evraz, in which he has a significant shareholding and which is “potentially supplying steel to the Russian military”, the statement said.Jets and yachts owned or chartered by Mr Abramovich, who is worth about £9.4bn, can now been seized.The other six individuals to be sanctioned are:Oleg Deripaska, an industrialist worth £2bn who has cultivated links with the British political establishment and famously hosted George Osborne and Peter Mandelson on his yacht. Deripaska has a multimillion-pound property portfolio in the UKIgor Sechin, known as Putin’s “right-hand man” and chief executive of the Rosneft state oil firm. Described by the Foreign Office as a “particularly close and influential ally of Putin”, he was already on the US and EU sanctions list and last week French authorities seized his yachtAndrey Kostin, a “close associate” of Mr Putin who has “long supported” the Kremlin as chairman of the sanctioned VTB bankAlexei Miller, CEO of state-owned energy company Gazprom, who is “one of the most important executives” backing the KremlinNikolai Tokarev, who is said to have served as a KGB officer alongside Mr Putin in the 1980s before rising to be president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company TransneftDmitri Lebedev, chairman of the board of directors of Bank RossiyaMr Johnson said there was “enough connection, enough link between the Putin regime and the individuals in question, to justify the action”.“I think when you look at what is happening in Ukraine, and you look to the casual rejection of every norm of civilised behaviour in bombing a maternity hospital, I think people in this country can see that people connected to the Putin regime need to be sanctioned, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said, during a visit to Liverpool.Britain’s list of 18 oligarchs sanctioned since the invasion began – not including Putin himself or foreign minister Sergei Lavrov – still lags well behind the EU and US.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for fresh rounds of sanctions to go “further and faster”, saying he demanded Mr Abramovich be targeted weeks ago.“Every oligarch and those supporting Putin in any way should be sanctioned,” he told reporters on a visit to the Tapa military base in Estonia.But Mr Johnson said the government was proceeding “very carefully” in order not to infringe laws around property rights.Asked if there would be more measures against super-wealthy individuals in Russia’s power elite, he replied: “We’ve taken the powers to do that and certainly, you can expect to see that.”Britain will join allies from across the international community to “tighten the economic vice around the Putin regime”, he said.In the details of the sanctions placed on Mr Abramovich, the government described him as “a prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch”.It added: “Abramovich is associated with a person who is or has been involved in destabilising Ukraine and undermining and threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, namely Vladimir Putin, with whom Abramovich has had a close relationship for decades.”Foreign secretary Liz Truss said that “oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.”Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale on 2 March in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked invasion, promising to donate net proceeds to a charity benefitting “all victims of the war in Ukraine”. He has owned the club since 2003 and oversaw a record of 21 major trophies in 19 years. More

The UK government has eased customs rules for aid donations after confusion over post-Brexit bureaucracy left supplies meant for Ukraine stuck at the border in Dover for days.Charities and aid organisations exporting donated goods can now bypass electronic customs declarations which have been blamed for holding up lorries trying to reach Europe.Other customs formalities, such as needing to notify HMRC when the goods have been exported, were also lifted.The government said the rule changes – which will be temporary – were made in response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine but will apply to aid being sent to any destinations besides Russia and Belarus.Earlier this week charities said that five tonnes of donations for Ukraine had been held up at the port of Dover due to confusion over the new system of border checks.Britain’s exit from the EU single market and customs union led to a big increase in paperwork for goods crossing the border between the UK and the EU.A new electronic system, the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS), launched in January to facilitate the declarations needed to cross the Channel.Hauliers have complained that the system has caused the huge queues seen leading to Dover as even lorries with the right paperwork have been taking 15 minutes to clear the border.HMRC said it has changed the rules for drivers with aid shipments so that they will not be required to use the GVMS and can simply speak to customs officers or drive through a port.The changes will take effect immediately. More

The Partygate threat to Boris Johnson’s position has receded after Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross withdraw his demand for the prime minister to resign.The Moray MP was the highest-ranking Conservative to call for Mr Johnson to go after a spate of allegations of lockdown-breaching parties at 10 Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic.He was branded a “lightweight” by Johnson loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg, but won the backing of his group of MSPs at Holyrood.But he today said that the international crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “not the time to be discussing resignations”.The humiliating climbdown came just hours after it was confirmed that Mr Johnson will attend next week’s Scottish Tory conference to speak to delegates about the war in Ukraine.It makes more remote the prospect of reaching the threshold of 54 MPs’ letters required to trigger a no-confidence vote in Mr Johnson’s leadership, even if the ongoing Metropolitan Police inquiry results in a fine for the PM.Opposition parties derided Mr Ross for his decision, accusing the Scottish Conservative leader of having “the backbone of a jellyfish”.Mr Ross said: “The middle of an international crisis is not the time to be discussing resignations, unless it’s the removal from office of Vladimir Putin.“There will be a time and place to debate Partygate but, as even [Labour leader] Keir Starmer said at the weekend, we should put that on pause while there is war in Europe.“It’s essential that we all fully support what the UK government is doing.“In light of Russia’s appalling actions, the government and prime minister need our backing, and they have mine and the whole Scottish Conservative party.“We should all be focused on what we can do to help the Ukrainian people in any capacity.”Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “We are right to be defending democracy in Ukraine, but that doesn’t mean we stop doing democracy at home.“This is a prime minister that has broken his own laws and shown contempt for the people of the UK.“Douglas Ross should not be using the Ukraine crisis to go back on his principles.“He knows Boris Johnson is not fit to be prime minister.”Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: “Douglas Ross and the Scottish Conservatives have the backbone of a jellyfish.“Their limited welcome betrays a deep embarrassment that they are lumbered with a prime minister that they are ashamed of because of his double standards over parties in Downing Street.“It is difficult to change prime minister in the midst of an international crisis when we should be focusing on assisting the people of Ukraine, but he should have been gone long before now.” More

Priti Patel has cited the Windrush scandal as a reason not to allow open-door entry to Ukrainian refugees.Speaking in the Commons on Thursday the Home Secretary told MPs that visa restrictions imposed by the Home Office were necessary because of “something known as the Windrush scandal”.The scandal came about because the government’s “hostile environment” policies required people to show documentation they were never issued with when they arrived in the UK.As a result thousands of people – particularly those from the so-called “Windrush generation” who came to Britain after WWII were locked out of services like housing and healthcare.The government was pushed into paying compensation to the victims, who were mostly black Britons – though it has been criticised for being slow to do so.”What we are seeing, and it is important that we’re flexible in our response and we have been, is that there are many Ukrainians that do not have documentation,” Ms Patel said in response to an urgent question from shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.”And if I may, Mr Speaker, I think this country and all governments, including probably a government that she once served in, will recognise that there was something known as the Windrush scandal.”As MPs on the opposition benches cried out in anger over her comments, the Home Secretary continued:”It’s important that everyone who arrives in the UK has physical and digital records of their status in the UK to ensure that they’re accessible to schemes.”They may holler on the other side by the process is absolutely vital in terms of the verification – notification and permission to travel, but importantly to give people the status when they come to the United Kingdom to have that right to work, the right to access some benefits and also the digital verification of their status. I think that is absolutely right.”Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, who campaigned for the scandal’s victims, appeared to criticise the Home Secretary’s comments.Responding later on social media , he said: “Priti Patel, please listen to your government’s own Windrush Lessons Learned Review which said:”the Home Office must … change its culture to recognise that migration and wider Home Office policy is about people and, whatever it’s objective, should be rooted in humanity.”Britain has stood out among European countries in not offering an open door policy to Ukrainian refugees – with the government coming in for international criticism.At the start of the week French interior minister Gerald Darmanin, wrote a strongly-worded letter to his British counterpart Priti Patel, accusing the UK of a “lack of humanity” for not opening its doors.Ms Patel announced more measures to relax biometric checks on Thursday but Labour has said the measures will still result in delays. The opposition says emergency protection visas should be introduced, though it has also stopped short of calling the UK to emulate the UK’s open door policy and waive visas entirely. More

The Home Office should be stripped of its responsibility for helping Ukrainian refugees come to the UK, the Welsh first minister has said.Mark Drakeford said the department’s “long history” of running hostile migration and refugees regimes meant putting it in charge was “the wrong thing to do”.Labour’s most senior elected politician said Priti Patel’s department has long “demonstrated its incapacity” to do a good job on the issue and that a “dedicated group” should be set up at a UK level should be established.“Frankly, putting this in the hands of the Home Office is quite the wrong thing to do, the Home Office with its long history of ‘hostile regimes’ to people coming from elsewhere in the world,” he told the Commons Welsh affairs select committee on Wednesday.“The responsibility should be taken away from a department that has demonstrated its incapacity to mobilise to meet the response and put in the hands of a dedicated group of people at the UK level, who will do what is necessary to allow those people driven from their own homes and who temporarily in many cases wish to have sanctuary in the United Kingdom, to make sure that the actions of our government match the wishes of our people.”The Home Office has long been criticised for scandals involving the treatment or refugees and migrants, including the Windrush scandal.Mr Drakeford’s comments come as the UK is under pressure over its relatively closed door to Ukrainians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion compared to other countries.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 just 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 French government has accused the UK immigration regime of lacking humanity. The Home Office has been contacted for comment on this story.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