TV judge Robert Rinder has lashed out at the “yawning chasm” between the “well-meaning” intentions of the Government’s sponsorship scheme for Ukraine refugees and the reality of making it work in a war zone.
The Strictly Come Dancing semi-finalist and Standard columnist, who is helping the Red Cross in the Polish city of Przemysl close to the western Ukrainian border, told the Standard that the vast majority of traumatised Ukrainians fleeing the war had no idea Britain was even offering sanctuary.
But even if they did, they face a nightmare of red tape with no on-the-ground help from officials to help them navigate the bureaucracy of 15-page forms.
The Government launched its sponsorship scheme this week to pay British families £350 a month to take Ukrainian refugees into their homes.
Rinder said: ”It is to be applauded of course, but there are tens of thousands of people willing to be sponsors who just can’t get through the administrative hoops.”
The criminal barrister, 43, called on the Home Office to immediately install welcome desks at every railway station and crossing point used by Ukrainians to escape the brutal war nleashed in their homeland.
He said “three excellent people from the Foreign Office” at a reception centre at Przemysl station were doing their best but looked “rejected and helpless because they can only help Brits or people entitled to British visas — they are not there to help refugees.”
He added: “The Government is virtue signalling but they have made it very difficult. There needs to be a big national flag at reception centres and train stations where people can get administrative assistance in being linked with families willing to provide homes.
“It is a well-meaning policy but the reality exposes a yawning chasm between what they want to do and the administrative capacity to execute it on the ground.
“I spoke to three Ukrainian refugees today, none were even aware the UK had its own programme, they were heading to countries like Spain. But when I told them they were more than prepared to take up our offer.”
Rinder has revealed how he has been reunited with the grandparents of his Strictly dancing partner Oksana Platero, who have fled Ukraine for Poland.
Wednesday her 95-year-old grandmother Zoya was finally provided with the wheelchair she desperately needed.
Rinder praised the generosity of the hundreds of “everyday British people driving 30 hours and taking off days of unpaid leave to help people at the border” and called them “the equivalent of the little boats of Dunkirk.” They include Scottish Police Federation chief David Hamilton.
The Red Cross is one of 13 charities supported by the Evening Standard’s Ukraine Appeal.
Together with Government matching funding and the appeal of our sister paper, the Independent, it has raised more than £300,000.
