Fury as it’s revealed only FIFTY Ukrainian refugees have been given UK visas

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Liz Truss today tried to distance herself from the chaos surrounding the UK’s Ukrainian refugee scheme as she claimed it is not her responsibility but that of Cabinet colleague Priti Patel.

The Foreign Secretary was repeatedly grilled over the generosity of Britain’s help for people fleeing the Russian invasion as she gave evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee amid claims that only 50 visas have been granted. 

But Ms Truss deflected questions and insisted the scheme is ‘really a matter for the Home Secretary’ because it is a ‘Home Office responsibility’. 

Her comments prompted a rebuke from senior Labour MP Chris Bryant who told the Cabinet minister: ‘Passing the buck really doesn’t work.’ 

The Government is facing mounting criticism over its refugees programme after Boris Johnson today admitted he does not know whether the 50 visa figure is correct. 

The PM stressed that ‘thousands’ of applications are being processed but conceded he is ‘not sure’ if the extraordinary low numbers of approvals are accurate.

And he appeared to slap down a suggestion from Ms Patel that a more generous humanitarian route will be created so that individuals no longer need family links to come to Britain. 

Speaking to reporters at RAF Northolt this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘Clearly this, this crisis, is evolving the whole time. I’ve said before that the UK will be as generous as we can possibly be and we intend to do that.

‘We have two very, very generous routes already – so the family reunion route, which is uncapped, which could potentially see hundreds of thousands of people come to this country, plus the humanitarian route.

‘Under that scheme, people can sponsor people coming from Ukraine.’

The family reunion scheme is already up and running but the sponsorship scheme is yet to be rolled out, with more details expected to be published later this week.  

Ms Patel had appeared to suggest that she was looking at creating a third route for refugees to come to the UK but Downing Street insisted at lunchtime that the Home Secretary was referring to the already-announced sponsorship programme. 

Number 10 said ministers ‘obviously keep all options under review’ but stressed there are currently only two schemes for refugees. 

Mr Johnson later repeated at a Downing Street press conference alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that the UK will be as ‘generous as we possibly can’.     

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin has hit out at the UK for ‘inhumanely’ turning back refugees at the border due to red tape. 

Labour accused the Government of being in a ‘mess’, and senior Tories joined the condemnation swiping that the refugee policy is ‘a disgrace’ as it stands. 

In comparison, Ireland has joined the EU in waiving visa rules and has already accepted approximately 1,800 people.  

Ms Truss was grilled on the refugee scheme this afternoon as she gave evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. 

Mr Bryant asked the Foreign Secretary if she is ‘ashamed’ of the UK’s response to the crisis and she replied: ‘The Home Secretary has announced two routes. One is the family visa route and the other is the sponsorship route and I know that the Home Office are working very hard to issue visas.’

Mr Bryant again asked if Ms Truss was ‘ashamed’ as he questioned why the Government was not better prepared for the exodus from Ukraine. 

Ms Truss said: ‘I can assure you, Chris, that we have been preparing for it. We have been preparing for it since well before the end of last year. That is when we sent our forward deployment teams to locations in Poland, Slovakia, to provide direct support to people leaving Ukraine.’

Asked why the Government had only managed to issue 50 visas, Ms Truss replied: ‘It is really a matter for the Home Secretary exactly how the visa process works so I suggest that you…’

Mr Bryant hit back and said: ‘No, because part of it is done by you. Part of it is done by your department.’

The Labour MP pointed to visa application centres, run by the Foreign Office, where people abroad have to go to give biometric data as part of the visa process. 

But Ms Truss said: ‘It is not… I believe that is a Home Office responsibility… it is Home Office personnel.’

The Foreign Secretary added: ‘This is run through the Home Office. I think it is important to know that.’

Mr Bryant said: ‘Passing the buck really doesn’t work as a government minister. It really doesn’t. You are all part of the same government.’

The Prime Minister defended the UK’s approach at a press conference this afternoon, telling reporters: ‘We are absolutely determined to be as generous as we possibly can and as I speak to you all we are processing thousands of applications.

‘Clearly as the situation has got worse we are going to have to make sure that we do even more and the routes that we have, the family reunion route offers the prospect of hundreds of thousands coming here, the humanitarian sponsorship route is also uncapped.

‘We are putting people out into all of the surrounding countries, into Poland, into Bulgaria, Romania, as well as into Calais, to France, to make sure that we receive people and we help people.’ 

In a tetchy interview on Sky News earlier, Europe minister James Cleverly admitted the UK visa figure seemed ‘small’ but stressed it should rise quickly.  

‘We have made it absolutely clear we want to support Ukrainians who are seeking refuge, both those who have family connections here in the UK and, indeed, those who don’t,’ he said.

‘Over the last 10 days or so we have seen huge numbers of people leaving Ukraine, fleeing from the conflict, we will support them in the places that they currently are – which is typically in countries bordering Ukraine.

‘But we will, of course, also welcome Ukrainians here to the UK.’

Complaining about being constantly interrupted as he gave lengthy answers, Mr Cleverly argued ‘the process has only just started’.

The Home Office has revealed that more than 13,500 Ukrainian refugees have started a UK visa application, but only 50 had been granted by yesterday morning.

By contrast, the total number of asylum applications to the UK last year was 48,540, up 63 per cent year-on-year.

Many of the 13,500 refugees have started but not completed the online application for the UK’s Ukraine Family Scheme.  

In what appeared to be a remarkable change of tack overnight, Ms Patel said she is planning to offer any Ukrainian refugee a possible route to the UK.

So far, only those who have a family member in this country have been granted sanctuary under the recently extended visa scheme. 

EU countries by contrast have waived visa rules, letting Ukrainian refugees in for up to three years without having to seek asylum.

Ms Patel told The Sun she was ‘urgently escalating’ the UK’s response to the crisis. 

‘In response to the desperation I saw with my own eyes at the Polish border two days ago, I’m urgently escalating our response to the growing humanitarian crisis,’ she said.

‘I am now investigating the legal options to create a humanitarian route.

‘This means anyone without ties to the UK fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will have a right to come to this nation.’ 

Mr Johnson again flatly dismissed the idea of allowing Ukrainians into the country ‘without any checks or any controls at all’.

‘What we won’t do, and let me be very clear, what we won’t do is have a system where people can come into the UK without any checks or any controls at all, I don’t think that is the right approach. But what we will do is have a system that is very, very generous.

‘As the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, people are going to want to see this country open our arms to people fleeing persecution, fleeing a warzone.

‘I think people who have spare rooms, who want to receive people coming from Ukraine, will want us to have a system that enables them to do that. And that is already happening.’ 

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said the current approach is ‘certainly not a success’.

LBC’s Nick Ferrari asked if the Home Office had failed by granting just 50 Ukrainian refugees visas so far.

‘Well, it’s certainly not a success is it?’ Mr Tugendhat said.

‘What we need to do is to make sure that we get the Home Office absolutely delivering, to make sure that we get the support for those who are most in need.

‘The British people are extremely generous, you and I both know that.

‘This isn’t some sort of, you know, illegal scam. This is, perfectly obviously, people fleeing for their lives and we need to be absolutely there to support them.’ 

Fellow Tory Roger Gale was more blunt, tweeting: ‘So we now know the answer to the question that I posed yesterday: just fifty visas granted to date and families turned back at Calais. A disgrace.’ 

The Home Secretary visited the Ukrainian Social Club in Holland Park, west London yesterday to drop off a bag of donations including wet wipes, nappies and non-perishable foods and met with volunteers. 

She said her staff are people across the entire EU and are doing everything possible to aid Ukrainian refugees.

Ms Patel said: ‘Let’s be clear, this is the first scheme in the world that’s up and running in this short period of time.

‘Ten thousand applications and yes, grants are happening as we stand here right now and are speaking. So I’m surging staff across all application centres across the entire European Union as well as in the border countries such as Poland, where I was the other day and obviously where huge numbers of people are coming through.’

She added: ‘This is an incredible scheme and we are doing everything possible, surging capacity across every single application centre across the EU.’

Ms Patel added that staff are being flown into countries which border Ukraine ‘so we can fast track and speed up applications and it is right that we do this.’  

The Home Secretary denied accusations from France that refugees had been turned away from the UK at Calais.

Mr Darmanin said it was ‘inhumane’ of the UK to turn away refugees arriving in Calais if they did not have a valid visa. 

However, Ms Patel said: ‘Let me just correct what has been said by the French government. The British Government is not turning anybody around or turning anybody back at all.

‘And I think it’s really important to emphasise that, particularly at this time, when all nations across Europe must work together to help and support people in need and fleeing Ukraine at this awful, awful time.’

Ms Patel said: ‘I have staff in Calais to provide support to Ukrainian families that have left Ukraine to come to the United Kingdom. It is wrong and it is inaccurate to say that we are not providing support on the ground. We are.’

Mr Darmanin told Europe 1 radio earlier:  ‘I called my British counterpart twice.

‘I asked her to set up a consulate in Calais that can process people’s paperwork and issue visas.’

He said that hundreds of Ukrainian refugees in Calais have been told by British authorities to get a visa at UK consulates in Paris or Brussels.

Mr Darmanin said it was ‘a bit inhumane’ to expect them to travel to the consulates after their long journeys from Ukraine. 

‘The British must put their rhetoric into action, I’ve heard the big words of generosity from Mr (Boris) Johnson,’ Mr Darmanin said.

‘I hope this will allow the English to open their arms a little and stop the technocratic nit-picking’.

Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko said any ‘bureaucratic nonsense’ around visas should be cleared.

Mr Prystaiko, who met Ms Patel at the nearby embassy after her visit, said: ‘We believe that some of the procedures can be really simplified.

‘We will sort it out later, now we have to let as maximum people we can have as possible.

‘All the security checks should be in place for obvious reasons because it is a war.’