The situation in Ukraine is deeply concerning and I join constituents in being utterly appalled by the actions of President Putin’s regime and horrified by what is unfolding in Ukraine. Many constituents have contacted me on a number of issues. I have outlined my position and the work of the Government below. 

Refugees

The Home Office has been working with the Ukraine Government to come up with a system which balances the need to help refugees and also respects the requests of the Ukrainian Government that we do not destabilise the country even further. As a result, we are prioritising the provision of support to resident British nationals and their families who want to leave Ukraine to come to the UK, and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) staff are working around the clock to process visa applications. 

The Home Secretary has also introduced a bespoke humanitarian pathway opening up a route to Ukrainians who may not have family ties to the UK, but are able to match with individuals, businesses, charities and community groups. There is no numerical limit on the number of Ukrainians who can come to the UK through this route. I expect further announcements on this scheme imminently and will endeavor to update my website as soon as I have further information. 

It is important that essential security and biometric checks, which are a fundamental part of our visa approval process worldwide, continue to take place as we must be realistic about the acute security challenges in Ukraine and Putin’s willingness to enact violence in the UK. I have heard from constituents who feel that we should not be asking for paperwork. I’ve had one constituent, a Ukrainian, spell out her concerns as to an individual who could enter this country and cause harm if criminal records are not checked. We also have security advice that Russian operatives are mixing with Ukrainian refugees.

Security checks are taking place at an accelerated pace on all applications, which are mainly processed in a matter of hours,  to ensure the UK public is protected while we assist those in need of refuge. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) staff are working around the clock to process applications and stands ready to deploy further capacity if needed. 

I discussed the refugee situation with the Home Secretary over the weekend. I also spoke with the Prime Minister yesterday on the same subject. Every conflict and every threat situation is unique and requires a tailored response. As I hope you will agree, it would be counterproductive to our shared end objective to rush into introducing a system that in any way weakens Ukraine’s mission and its war efforts. 

I have been reassured by the Home Secretary that she is working in coordination with Ukrainian leaders to implement a helpful asylum system and announcements will be made shortly. However, as a first step, the Government has already made a number of changes to the immigration system to help Ukrainians wishing to come to the UK. 

The Government has waived the application fee for family members of British nationals living in Ukraine as a family unit who apply under the Family Migration route, and where family members of British nationals do not meet the usual eligibility criteria (but pass security checks), UKVI will give them permission to enter the UK outside the rules for 12 months and will prioritise these applications. This includes changes to the normal language requirements and salary thresholds. 

The Home Office has also introduced changes to allow Ukrainian nationals already in the UK on a visitor visa to switch into a points-based route or a family visa route free of charge, and Ukrainians already settled in the UK now have the ability to bring over their immediate Ukranian family members. 

Taken together, the Home Office estimates these moves are expected to benefit all Ukrainians already in the UK and up to 200,000 more from the Ukraine (a figure that has no limit). I have been assured by my Ministerial colleagues that they will have the right to access to work, education, and training, as well as public funds. 

To those who take the view that this country is less generous to refugees than the EU countries, the same view was espoused on Afghanistan. We have exceeded our aim of resettling 5,000 Afghan nationals in the first year of the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme in addition to relocating over 7,500 under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. We have allowed over 75,000 people from Hong Kong to come to this country. This is a generous country and would be more so if social media reflected the facts.

Humanitarian Support 

In addition to directly helping refugees to settle in the UK, we are providing £220m in emergency and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. This tailored package follows conversations between our Prime Minister and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

The funding will help aid agencies respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, creating a lifeline for Ukrainians with access to basic necessities and medical supplies such as medicines, syringes, dressings and wound care packs. UK Government humanitarian experts have also deployed to the region to support those fleeing the violence in Ukraine.

Sending in British Troops 

The brave men and women of Ukraine are enduring the barrage and have, so far, held their cities from Russian invaders. They are fighting for their country, for their continued future as a free and independent nation. It is only right that the UK supports in an appropriate way that does not escalate the conflict. 

As Ukraine is not part of NATO, the Government’s position is that of the NATO countries as a whole; sending our armed forces, or indeed those of any other country, into Ukraine would trigger a war across Europe. With Putin’s blatant threat of nuclear weapons, this must be avoided. The Prime Minister told me that it was last March when he signed off the application from the Secretary of State for Defence to supply arms and training to the Ukrainian Government. We have been at their side for longer than many other countries but our troops will not be engaged in direct combat with Russian troops. This would require Parliamentary approval and it would not be granted because Parliament and Government are united on the view that we support the Ukrainian authorities but we will not directly enter into fighting with the Russians.

Sanctions

The UK’s package of sanctions are the strongest economic measures we have ever enacted against Russia and will have destabilising impacts on President Putin and Russia. It is important that we work with our allies to cripple Russia’s economic development both in the short and long term

More than 100 companies and oligarchs at the heart of Putin’s regime have been hit with sanctions worth hundreds of billions of pounds, asset freezes and travel bans. This includes Russia’s second largest bank (VTB) and Russia’s defence giant (Rostec). Sanctions will also soon be implemented on 571 members of the Duma and Federation Council who sanctioned the invasion of Ukraine.

Our Government is working with allies to go further and it has now been agreed that a number of Russian banks will be excluded from the SWIFT financial system. The UK was an early advocate of this exclusion but we had to first get the other SWIFT countries to agree. This will remove Russia from trillions of dollars-worth of transactions. Effectively, Russia’s international trade will only occur via fax or phone. When Iran was cut out of the system in 2012, it lost 30% of its trade. The assets of the Russian central bank have been frozen, limiting Russia’s access to its overseas reserve.  

Restrictions have been introduced to prohibit people in the UK from undertaking financial transactions involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. 

Legislation will shortly be laid before Parliament to ban the Russian state and Russia’s economically vital industries and companies from raising finance on the UK’s money markets. 

The Government has also introduced a set of measures to significantly strengthen our trade restrictions against Russia to include a prohibition on the export of a range of high-end and critical technical equipment and components in sectors including electronics, telecommunications and aerospace. The Transport Secretary has banned Aeroflot and all other Russian commercial and private jets from the UK airspace. 

The result of these global sanctions has been growing queues at Russian cashpoints, a doubling of interest rates in Russia to 20%, seen the Russians close their own stock market and sent the Russian rouble down by a fifth. 

And finally

The measures above are bound to change as the circumstances change. This may mean more humanitarian and refugee support and further support to weaponise the Ukranian forces. Our aim is to cripple the Russian economy in order for change to occur in Russia. I am afraid that this will have an impact on our own economy, and our own cost of living. A failure to take this drastic action will have even greater ramifications if the despot Putin is not stopped. Our lead against Russia has been widely accepted as having driven a global response. I hope we can stand united in this country and step back from political division.