Bristol City Council is urging the Government to waive visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees, with the Tories joining criticism that the current system is an unfair mess. Mayor Marvin Rees said national political decisions to create a “hostile environment” for those fleeing global hotspots “left us ill-equipped to cope with a world that is increasingly unstable”.
He spoke as a Labour motion, “strengthened” by changes from the Greens, urging Westminster to do more for people leaving Ukraine was passed by a majority at full council. The Green amendment, tabled by the party’s national co-leader and Clifton Down Cllr Carla Denyer, broadened the proposal to cover refugees from other war zones and regions that will be impacted by climate change.
It passed with support from Labour, Greens and the Lib Dems, while Green Cllr Martin Fodor fought back tears and received a standing ovation as he told how he would not exist had his Ukrainian grandmother not been welcomed to Britain as a child refugee over a century ago. But the Conservatives voted against the amendment because it retained the original motion’s demand to scrap the Nationality and Borders Bill going through Parliament, which opponents say would criminalise asylum seekers depending on how they arrive in Britain.
