Priti Patel left MPs baffled today when she used the Windrush scandal to defend her shambolic Ukraine refugee policy.
There were shouts of protest as the Home Secretary claimed it showed the importance of having the proper documents when coming to the UK.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “We are seeing that many Ukrainians do not have documentation.
“There was something known as the Windrush scandal!
“It is important that everyone who arrives in the UK has physical and digital records of their status here in the UK to ensure that they can access schemes.”
In the 2018 Windrush scandal, thousands of people who were encouraged to come to the UK in the 1960s and 70s faced being threatened with deportation under new immigration rules - despite living and working here for decades.
People were ordered to prove they have the right to be in Britain to rent property, work or access services and benefits.
Ms Patel is right that the government failed to keep detailed records of arrivals, one cause of the problems.
But their landing cards were in fact destroyed by the UK Border Agency in 2010, following an order the previous year.
She also did not mention that the ‘hostile environment’ to immigrants, pioneered by her predecessor Theresa May, was widely blamed for the problems Windrush people faced.
The Home Office set up a task force with the aim of sorting out cases, but critics say compensation has been too slow.
Ms Patel was batting aside pleas to create a waiver scheme like in the EU where Ukrainians will not need a visa.
She said: “Opposition Members may holler, but the process is vital in terms of verification, notification and permission to travel.
“It is important to give people status when they come to the United Kingdom, so that they have the right to work, the right to access benefits and digital verification of their status. That is absolutely right.”
To come to the UK Ukrainians need either a family visa - if they have relatives here - or a ‘humanitarian sponsorship’ visa that hasn’t been detailed or launched yet.
Fewer than 1,000 family visas had been given out by yesterday despite 2million refugees fleeing, and Western officials believing the number will hit 4million in the coming days.
Under-fire Ms Patel announced she was relaxing the need to apply in person at a visa centre for Ukrainians fleeing the war.
Those with Ukrainian passports will be able to complete the whole process online and give fingerprints once they arrive in the UK - but only from next week.
It comes after Ireland confirmed Ms Patel raised concerns that Ukrainian refugees could slip into the UK via a backdoor through Northern Ireland.
Asylum seekers fleeing their war-torn homeland have been granted visa-free travel to the EU, including the Republic of Ireland.
But that triggered claims in Westminster that some could exploit the Common Travel Area arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Republic to enter the UK.
Now it has emerged Home Secretary Ms Patel raised the issue with the Irish government.
Her view was blasted by Social Democrat MP Jennifer Whitmore, who said: “I think it’s disgraceful and there’s a responsibility to actually do a lot more and for them to welcome people into their country.”
Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin said Justice Minister Helen McEntee had told the Home Secretary Ireland was part of the EU-wide response.
“That continues to be our position in respect of prioritising the humanitarian response, above and beyond anything else,” Mr Martin told the Dail, Ireland’s parliament.
He vowed the 310-mile border between the Republic and Northern Ireland would not be closed.
“We have an open border with Northern Ireland, that is not going to change – be that for pandemic reasons or be that for refugee reasons,” he said.
"We are not going to shut the border and the UK Government will understand this in the same way as we understood it when it was coming the other way with the pandemic.
"The best way is not to shut a border but to ensure you share information, that gives confidence that the security issue can be addressed.”
