THE One Nation Caucus of Tory MPs has written to Boris Johnson calling for him to do more to help Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
Former Cabinet ministers Sir Robert Buckland, Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock were among senior MPs to put their names to the letter calling for a “flexible and pragmatic approach” to allow Ukrainians to seek temporary refuge in the UK.
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The 38 MPs said: “We need to act now and we need to act decisively.
“We urge the UK Government to provide as much support as possible to our European partners who are currently the first safe havens for Ukrainian refugees – namely Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
“We also hope our ministers will seek a flexible and pragmatic approach to those Ukrainians wishing to seek temporary refuge in the UK until it is safe to return to their lives in their home country.
“It is clear that this is not another migration crisis; this is a crisis of war. This should not be business as usual, we need sincere and immediate support for the Ukrainian people.
“The United Kingdom cannot flag or fail, our message must be clear: Ukrainian victims of war seeking refuge are welcome.”
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The letter comes as the UK Government has set up stricter rules for fleeing Ukrainian refugees compared to European neighbours.
Under current rules, Ukrainian refugees may be allowed a visa to enter the UK if they already have immediate family in the country.
This includes a spouse, a civil partner, an unmarried partner that one has been cohabitating with for at least two years, parents, their children if one is under 18 or adult relatives who are also carers.
This excludes other family members like siblings.
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Elsewhere, a meeting between EU interior ministers resulted in a unanimous decision to waive all visa restrictions for Ukrainian refugees for three years without having to apply for a visa.
Nicola Sturgeon urged the UK Government to follow the European example in a tweet earlier this week but Priti Patel confirmed on Monday that the UK would not waive visa restrictions for Ukrainian refugees.
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