Responding to the news that the Home Office’s visa centre for Ukrainian refugees in Calais will be in Lille, 70 miles away, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “This is yet more chaos and incompetence from the dysfunctional Home Office.
“Ukrainian families fleeing Putin’s terror shouldn’t be forced to wait for an appointment at a Home Office visa centre that doesn’t even exist yet.
“People across the UK want to welcome Ukrainian refugees with compassion, but instead Priti Patel is trapping them in limbo.
“Our country has a proud history of providing sanctuary for people fleeing war and persecution. The Government must live up to that now, with a simple, fast and safe route for refugees to come to the UK.”
The UK has currently only granted around 50 visas to Ukrainians fleeing Putin’s war, despite over 1.5 million having fled Ukraine already. Read the full story.