War, by definition, is a systemic stress test of the societies it affects: it subjects them to extraordinary pressures, poses acute, unforeseen challenges and discloses the structural flaws that lurk unnoticed or unaddressed in peacetime. So it is that the invasion of Ukraine has, in less than a week, revealed the shameful crudity, cruelty and confusion of our country’s border policy and the competing claims of conscience and demotic nationalism.
On the one hand, the Government claims that post-Brexit, “Global Britain” is a formidable force on the international stage: a beacon of freedom, energy and compassion. On the other, Boris Johnson and his colleagues have often traded in an ugly form of populist nativism to score cheap political points: never more so than when Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, tried to mobilise the Royal Navy to stop refugees in dinghies crossing the Channel.
The humanitarian disaster unfolding in Ukraine has laid bare this tension as never before. According to the United Nations, more than 500,000 refugees have already fled, crossing the border into Poland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. It is expected that the total number may soon climb to five million — though, given Putin’s readiness to escalate at any moment, even that estimate may be conservative.
In response, and admirably, the European Union has essentially waived normal visa requirements, granting Ukrainians the right to stay and work in the 27-nation bloc for three years. On Sunday, Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, pledged to Sky’s Trevor Phillips that “we will lead” in addressing the refugee emergency. What she did not say is that the default strategy of the Government tends in precisely the opposite direction. Over the weekend, the immigration minister, Kevin Foster, posted an astonishing tweet suggesting that Ukrainian refugees might like to apply for Britain’s “seasonal worker scheme”. In other words: these are the rules, take it or leave it.
That tweet has since been deleted, and Patel has been forced into a compromise that, it is quite clear, she dislikes. Instead of adopting the EU’s approach, she yesterday announced a strictly limited relaxation of border restrictions that will, in theory, allow up to 100,000 Ukrainians with family already in the UK to reside here for up to 12 months. They will still be subject to strict security and biometric tests — on the grounds, Patel told MPs, that Russian saboteurs may be trying to infiltrate the refugee system to cause havoc.
Even now, not all family members will be eligible. And one has to ask: how quickly will all the red tape be pared down to minimise the suffering of applicants? In this context, it is worth bearing in mind that the UK’s Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, announced during the retreat from Kabul last August, did not open its doors for business until January. The technocratic manner in which Patel described her “bespoke humanitarian route” for Ukrainians spoke volumes. Why so off-hand? Because the Home Secretary — who nurses ambitions to succeed Johnson — had intended her hard-as-nails Nationality and Borders Bill to be the populist centrepiece of the Government’s political fightback.
Bad enough that the House of Lords inflicted three defeats upon her in votes on the legislation yesterday evening. Much worse that the pesky matter of a geopolitical crisis has diverted her department’s attention from the basic business of keeping foreigners out.
Yesterday, 37 members of the Tory One Nation Group, including Jeremy Hunt, Greg Clark and Caroline Nokes, urged the PM to show the magnanimity required by the historic moment. “We need sincere and immediate support for the Ukrainian people,” they wrote. “The United Kingdom cannot flag or fail, our message must be clear: Ukrainian victims of war seeking refuge are welcome.”
This is not sentimentality but the basic decency owed by a great and powerful nation to the most vulnerable people in the world: those who have been ejected from their own country, leaving behind their fathers, sons, brothers and even grandfathers to fight off a brutal invasion. This is no time for half-measures or churlish restrictions.
Only rarely in the complex stew of politics is a simple, uncomplicated path manifestly the right one to follow. This is one such occasion. The people of Ukraine have stepped up to the plate of history. Is the British Government capable of doing the same?
Do you think the Government is doing enough to help Ukrainian refugees? Let us know in the comments below.
