Lack of UK support for Ukrainian refugees is ‘shameful’ – Wakefield Council deputy leader Jack Hemingway

Jack Hemingway said the UK needed to “step up” and shelter more innocent people fleeing the war-torn country.

Home Office figures published on Monday morning indicated that only 50 visas had been granted to refugees with existing family links to the UK.

The Government has insisted this number will rise significantly in the weeks to come as more applications are processed.

On Sunday, the Home Office said that more than 11,000 people had filled in application forms, with around half having completed them.

But ministers have been criticised for being too slow in providing help to refugees, with other European countries having already admitted thousands.

Retweeting a graphic showing the UK has taken in fewer than other nations on the continent, Coun Hemingway said: “This is shameful only 50 Ukrainian refugees allowed into UK so far.

“We have a proud history of welcoming refugees from conflict – it’s time our government stepped up and waived entry requirements for Ukrainian refugees, like our European neighbours.”

Last week, the council ended Wakefield’s 30 year-long association with the Russian city of Belgorod, which it was twinned with at the end of the Cold War.

The city, which is on the Ukrainian border, has reportedly been used to fire missiles.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said that he will provide Priti Patel with "as many people as she likes" to assist with processing visas.

Asked why a pop-up centre cannot be established in Calais today, he said: "I'm not the Home Secretary, that's why not.

"The responsibility for the processing of our borders is the responsibility of the Home Secretary."

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "What I can do - and I know the Home Secretary is determined to do - is, as the Ministry of Defence did in Afghanistan, I can lean in to provide her with as many people as she likes, as many people as she needs to do the processing."

He said they would be MoD officials rather than troops, because armed forces cannot be deployed to France without permission from Paris.

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