Britain must welcome Ukrainian refugees

To: Priti Patel, home secretary

With Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a new wave of refugees in Europe urgently need our support.

Neighbouring countries are taking in tens of thousands of refugees – yet while our government claims to ‘stand with Ukraine’, it is still refusing to waive visa requirements.

So far the UK has said that Ukrainians can apply under visa rules based on occupation and salary, or a recently-added ‘sponsorship scheme’. One immigration minister even said Ukrainians could apply to pick fruit and veg here, before deleting his tweet.

The government must open up routes for refugees, with no visas needed, to make it safe and legal for people fleeing war to come to the UK. Polling shows that a majority of the public support this plan.

Ukrainians, and all refugees, are welcome in Britain.