Priti Patel is resisting calls for Britain to take in thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s invasion as officials warned that Ukraine was too large a country for the UK to do so alone.
The Home Secretary was under pressure to set up refugee schemes amid fears that up to five million people could be displaced by the conflict.
The Government was forced by the invasion on Thursday to stop accepting visa applications from people stuck in Ukraine, meaning there is no safe and legal route for them to seek asylum in Britain from within the country unless they have British relatives.
Their only option is to leave Ukraine and apply for a visitor, work or study visa in UK application centres in neighbouring countries.
The UK Government is in talks with neighbouring states’ leaders as part of its scenario planning for any refugee crisis, and 1,000 British troops are on standby to help with a humanitarian crisis.
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“It feels too early to start to make any promises. The Home Secretary is talking to our partners across Europe in the event we need to take action. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. Britain cannot just take a whole country,” said a source.
It came after Lord Dubs, who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Britain at the age of six, said the Government should work with European allies to help those in need.
“This is an enormous catastrophe and a very brutal act by a dictator,” he said. “It is our responsibility, along with others, to help deal with the consequences of what Russia is doing.
“There are innocent people caught up in Putin’s megalomania trying to flee for safety. We have to be standing by to help them.”
The Refugee Council called for an urgent plan of action, with Enver Solomon, its chief executive, saying: “The Government should immediately relax visa requirements to allow family members of Ukrainians in the UK to join them here.
“It must also work at pace to establish a safe route so people at risk of persecution can apply for a humanitarian visa to travel to the UK to enable them to claim asylum once here.”
Ms Patel has announced visa concessions for Ukrainians already in Britain for work, study and tourism, extending the time period before they must leave the country.
But there has been no announcement of a resettlement scheme or other measures in response to an expected exodus of refugees.
It is thought the Government expects many Ukrainians to stay in eastern Europe in the short term, or in Schengen countries in which they can stay visa-free for 90 days, and is not immediately bracing for a rise in small boat crossings.
