Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

Beth Winter Excerpts

Monday 14th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Local government, who are experts in safeguarding.

[Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

The First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, said at the weekend that visas should not be necessary

“as they are not necessary in the European Union”.

Along with his Scottish counterpart, he has called on the UK Government to waive visa requirements. This morning, the chief executive of the Welsh Refugee Council said that the scheme is not a humanitarian response, particularly in comparison with other European countries that have accepted hundreds of thousands of people. She described the scheme as

“quite disheartening…quite shocking, frankly.”

Will the Secretary of State look again at the heartless visa requirement scheme, which is so out of touch with the people of Britain and indeed the devolved nations? Will he please put people first instead?

[Michael Gove]

I am sorry that the hon. Lady feels as she does. I should say that, when I was talking to representatives of the Refugee Council, one of them said as we unveiled the scheme that they took their hat off to the Government because they were so pleased with what we have done. They want us to go further and, as I acknowledged earlier, the scheme is not perfect, but we have to balance speed with breadth, comprehensiveness, safety, security and other considerations.

I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s question, because I can update the House that, since the website went live less than an hour ago, 1,500 people have already registered through the scheme in order to provide support.