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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

UK politics: Gove makes statement on homes for Ukrainian refugees as website for scheme opens – as it happened

United Kingdom Michael Gove Ukraine Sajid Javid London Boris Johnson Oleg Deripaska Saudi Arabia Homes for Ukraine Hong Kong

Early evening summary

  • Around 1,500 people registered on a government website offering to host Ukrainian refugees within about an hour of it launching, Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, told MPs. He disclosed the figure as he made a Commons statement giving details of the Homes for Ukraine scheme first announced over the weekend. The scheme, which will allow Ukrainian refugees without close relatives in the UK to come to the country where a sponsor has agreed to house them, was welcomed in the Commons by Tory MPs, who have been alarmed by how few people fleeing the war have benefited from the one scheme already operating (for Ukrainians with close relatives already in Britain). But Lisa Nandy, Gove’s Labour shadow, complained that the scheme involved too many bureaucratic hurdles, and charities working with refugees said what was proposed was far too limited given the scale of the crisis. (See 5.38pm.)

That’s all from me for today. But our Ukraine coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.

Updated

Matthew Ryder, a former deputy mayor for social integration in London (under Sadiq Khan), has posted a good thread on Twitter explaining why community sponsorship (of the kind announced by Michael Gove this afternoon) did not work as a means of housing Syrian refugees in any significant numbers. It starts here.

Charities working with refugees have expressed reservations about the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme. Here are statements from two of them - issued yesterday, when the broad details were available, but before Michael Gove delivered his statement to MPs.

From Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council

As an organisation with seven decades of experience working directly with refugees to help them rebuild their lives after the trauma of war, we are concerned that people from Ukraine are still not being recognised as refugees and being asked to apply for visas when they just need to be guaranteed protection. This programme falls short of enabling any Ukrainian, particularly the most vulnerable such as children who are alone, to seek safety in the UK and access the full support they urgently need.

By establishing a visa route and naming scheme, it will inevitably be restricted to those who are known to people in the UK and be a quite complex lengthy visa application process. A humanitarian crisis requires a speedy and compassionate response not one that puts bureaucratic hurdles ahead of the immediate needs of people whose lives have been ripped apart.

From Tim Naor Hilton, chief executive of Refugee Action

Community sponsorship is an important part of any refugee protection system and a wonderful way for people to show their support – but it can only ever be a drop in the ocean of what is needed. With current community sponsorship schemes resettling 150 people a year, it is challenging to scale up and takes too much time to be the main response to the displacement of more than 2.5 million people ...

This all contrasts with the way in which the UK resettlement scheme has worked in the past. Through this scheme, people are given full refugee status on arrival and five years of caseworker support and access to healthcare, housing, education, school, higher education and benefits.

Like six months ago in Afghanistan, we are baffled by the government’s failure to revive this underused resettlement scheme to respond to the war in Ukraine. It is only through such a programme that we will be able to welcome large numbers of people at speed, which is exactly what is needed in a crisis.

1,500 people have already signed up to offer to host Ukrainian refugees, Gove says

Some 1,500 people have already signed up to offer to host Ukrainian refugees, Michael Gove has told MPs.

Updated

Sky’s Jon Craig says Michael Gove is wearing a tie with the colours of the Ukrainian flag.

Gove told MPs that people hosting Ukrainian refugees would not need full DBS checks. “It will often be the case that very light-touch criminal checks will be sufficient and then local authorities can be supported in order to make sure that people are safe,” he said.

In the Commons Labour’s Tan Dhesi described the government’s response to the refugee crisis as “pathetic” and linked that to the government’s hostile environment policy.

That prompted a mini-eruption from Gove. “I’ve had it up to here with people trying to suggest that this country is not generous,” he said. The hostile environment policy started under Labour, he claimed. And he went on:

So could we just chuck it when it comes the partisan nonsense and get on with delivery.

Updated

In the Commons Gove was asked about this tweet from ITV’s Paul Brand, saying he could not get on the website to sign up.

Gove said that Brand was having a problem with his internet connection and that his colleague, Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, had already signed up.

Brand did manage to get on the website, and complete the application form, eventually.

Updated

Gove said he expected that, as the scheme started, it would attract Ukrainians wanting to move to areas where there were already other Ukrainians living.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, says she hopes to speak to Michael Gove later to get him to finalise how Scotland can work as a super-sponsor for refugees.

Updated

Gove says he wants to enable Scottish and Welsh governments to act as super sponsors for refugees

Stuart C McDonald, the SNP spokesperson for levelling up, asked if communities groups as well as individuals would get the £350 a month.

And would the government let the Scottish and Welsh governments act as super-sponsors?

Gove said the £350 was there for individuals. But charities would have a vital role to play.

And he said he was grateful to the Scottish and Welsh government’s for their offer to act as super-sponsors. “We’re doing everything we can in order to facilitate that,” he said.

Updated

Responding to Nandy, Gove said the government had been working with NGOs to ensure people could be matched to refugees. NGOs had welcomed this approach, he said.

And he insisted that he had been consulting local government.

Additional funding was available for councils that took refugees, to fund school places, he said.

He said vetting checks were being streamlined, so they could be carried out quickly. But it was important to ensure vulnerable people were placed where they would be safe.

Gove told Nandy her concerns had been addressed, and that she should support the scheme.

Updated

In response Lisa Nandy, the shadow work and pensions seceretary, said the existing system was too bureaucratic. Refugees were being asked to upload documents they might not have, she said.

Only 4,000 visas have been issued, she said.

She also asked why people wanting to host Ukrainian refugees were being expected to find the refugees they would help.

She accused Gove of not offering enough support to councils who will have to help deal with his scheme.

She also said refugees were being turned back at Calais, and left freezing.

The British people who have come forward have shown that we are a far better country than our government.

Nandy said, under these plans, the government might be failing the people of Ukraine twice.

Updated

Michael Gove used his statement to summarise some of the steps already taken to simplify the visa application process for some Ukrainians.

He said the number of Ukrainians arriving in the country was “rapidly increasing”.

He said Homes for Ukraine, the new scheme, would allow more people to come. He particularly thanked Richard Harrington, the new minister for refugees, for his work on the project.

The scheme would benefit Ukrainians with no families ties with the UK. (Ukrainians with close relatives in the country can use the existing visa system.)

Gove said people of any nationality would be able to sponsor Ukrainian refugees. And hosts can have any immigration status, as long as they have at least six months leave to remain.

Sponors will receive £350 a month, he said. They will be tax free, and will not affect benefits entitlement, he said.

UPDATE: This is what Gove told MPs on why sponsors would have to match themselves up with the refugees they would be helping.

Because we want the scheme to be up and running as soon as possible, Homes for Ukraine will initially facilitate sponsorship between people with known connections.

We will rapidly expand the scheme in a phased way with charities, churches and community groups to ensure many more prospective sponsors can be matched with Ukrainians who need help, and we are of course working closely with the devolved administrations to make sure that their kind offers of help are also mobilised.

Updated

Michael Gove is making his statement to MPs now.

This is from ITV’s Paul Brand summarising the key points.

Government website opens for people interesting in hosting Ukrainian refugees

Here is the government website where individuals and organisations interested in hosting Ukrainian refugees can register their interest in the scheme.

Updated

Gove publishes Q&A about how Homes for Ukraine scheme will work

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, is due to make a Commons statement within the next few minutes about the Homes for Ukraine scheme being set up to allow people to put up Ukrainian refugees in their homes.

Some details were released over the weekend, and Gove’s department has now published a Q&A about the scheme on its website.

Updated

The final Covid travel restrictions for England are to be abandoned from Friday, my colleague Aubrey Allegretti reports.

Keir Starmer has said “understanding what it means to be a country” in the relationship between the UK and the Republic of Ireland “tells us something” about the war in Ukraine, PA Media reports. In a speech at the London Irish Centre ahead of St Patrick’s Day, Starmer said:

This relationship [between the UK and Ireland] requires respect – equal respect – and understanding what it means to be a country.

I think it tells us something about what’s going on in the world, particularly Ukraine, because at the heart of the conflict in Ukraine is a simple thing, the wish of a country to decide for itself its own future ...

I didn’t think in my lifetime I would see Russian tanks rolling into a European country, soldiers kissing their children goodbye as they then stay to fight for their city and for the country, the awful bombing of hospitals. None of us thought we would see that.

Ireland was part of the UK until it gained independence 100 years ago, at the end of the first world war. Ukraine also declared independence for the first time in the modern era near the end of the first world war, although it had to wait until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 before independence was fully established.

Keir Starmer speaking to the Labour party’s Irish Society annual St Patrick’s Day reception at the London Irish Centre today.
Keir Starmer speaking to the Labour party’s Irish Society annual St Patrick’s Day reception at the London Irish Centre today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

UK to help ICC fund and manage investigations into war crimes in Ukraine, Raab says

Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy PM, has said Britain is to provide a package of financial and technical support to the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate potential war crimes in Ukraine. Speaking after a visit to the ICC in The Hague in the Netherlands, he said Russian commanders needed to know they would be held to account. He said:

The commanders on the ground – those who may be receiving illegal orders as well as those in the Kremlin – need to know that right now. I have made clear we will provide a package of support – financial and technical support – for the ICC to deliver on its mandate.

Right now there is a big emphasis on preservation of evidence of war crimes that may or may not have happened in the various different reports that we have seen but also in what is going to be coming down the line as Putin responds in ever more barbaric ways to the situation, stuttering and stumbling, that he has been driving on the ground in terms of his own military campaign.

Updated

Appeals to a ruling against legal challenges to the lawfulness of the Brexit Northern Ireland protocol have been dismissed, PA Media reports. PA says:

The court of appeal in Belfast heard appeals to the ruling last June by Mr Justice Colton rejecting arguments that the contentious post-Brexit trading arrangements breached the terms of the 1800 Acts of Union and the 1998 legislation that underpins the Good Friday peace agreement.

The action was pursued in the names of unionists and Brexiteers from across the UK, including former DUP leader Arlene Foster, former UUP leader Steve Aiken, TUV leader Jim Allister, Belfast agreement architect Lord Trimble, former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib and Lady Hoey.

An adjoined case was taken by Belfast pastor Clifford Peeples.

Appeals in both cases were dismissed.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, says Scottish government ministers will not be getting a pay rise this year.

Johnson and energy company bosses agree on need to increase supply of gas from North Sea

Boris Johnson and energy company bosses have agreed on the need to increase the supply of gas from the North Sea, Downing Street has said. The details remain unclear, but No 10 has presented this as one of the clear conclusions from the energy summit hosted by Johnson this morning. In a readout of what was discuss, a No 10 spokesperson said:

The prime minister reaffirmed his steadfast commitment to the North Sea oil and gas industry as a key asset in the UK’s plans for achieving greater energy independence, in ensuring the country’s smooth transition to net zero and in being part of the solutions needed for a cleaner future – which are ever more crucial as we move away from Russian hydrocarbons following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. This was welcomed and echoed by industry leaders, who made clear that the oil and gas industry are fully behind the UK’s energy transition.

The prime minister and CEOs discussed increasing investment in the North Sea oil and gas industry and boosting supply of domestic gas. This included how the UK can remove barriers facing investors and developers, and help projects come online more quickly. They agreed to work together going forwards to help accelerate this further.

They also spoke about how the oil and gas industry plays a vital role in providing the solutions for our net zero future, including in the production of low-carbon hydrogen and roll out of new carbon capture projects, which the sector is well-positioned to take forward thanks to its skills and expertise.

The government is due to publish its plan for increasing energy security later this month. No 10 says renewable energy, nuclear and domestic gas will all play a crucial part under the plans.

Those represented at the summit this morning included: the Oil and Gas Authority, Blackstone Energy Partners, Bluewater Energy, BP, Carlyle International Energy Partners, Equinor, Esso, Greenergy, Harbour Energy, Neptune Energy, Offshore Energies UK, Prax Group, TotalEnergies and Shell.

Updated

Gordon Brown urges devolved leaders in UK to unite behind call for action on cost of living crisis

Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has used an article in the Daily Record to call for devolved leaders across the UK to join forces and demand more government help for poorer families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Criticising the SNP government in Scotland for addressing the problem partly via a council tax rebate scheme, which he said was very similar to Westminster’s and not well targeted at those most in need, he said:

So when it comes to failing on fairness, the Scottish government can’t just blame Westminster.

For years, they have pleaded for the right to do things differently and then immediately upon having the chance they do the same as the Tories.

It’s clear what should be done.

Firstly, link up with the mayors in England, the first minister in Wales and all sections of decent opinion in Scotland and Britain to demand a UK-wide change of policy on tax, benefit levels and heating help.

One demand all could unite around is to restore the £20-a-week universal credit uplift taken from six million families a few months ago – worth £1,000 a year.

Updated

Gove's 'foolish' oligarchs' mansions plan may have encouraged Deripaska squatters, says IEA

The Institute of Economic Affairs, a rightwing, freemarket thinktank (once very influential in Tory circles, but much less so now) has accused Michael Gove of potentially encouraging the squatters who occupied Oleg Deripaska’s London house with his proposal for sanctioned oligarchs’ mansions to be used to home Ukrainian refugees.

In a statement issued by the thinktank, Prof Len Shackleton, one of its economists, said:

The news that protesters have seized the London home of Oleg Deripaska, one of the sanctioned oligarchs, will be welcomed by many. However, it ought to give us pause.

The government’s freezing of the assets of those believed to be associated with Vladimir Putin is a distinct break with Britain’s traditional support for property rights, one of the reasons why so many foreign nationals have come to live and work here. It is not a commitment which should be abandoned lightly.

The vast majority of such people have not made fortunes by dubious means and are no danger to us: many have made major contributions to British life. A government which seizes property without clear and testable grounds is not a good advertisement for the rule of law.

Seizure of oligarchs’ property may be justified in current circumstances, but this should be tested through the courts. Foolish remarks by Michael Gove about hasty and impractical schemes to house refugees in Mayfair properties may have encouraged protesters to break into Mr Deripaska’s house. The government should make it clear that this is not the way to proceed.

Updated

Grant Shapps says his family will be applying to host Ukrainian refugees

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, says he and his family will be applying to host Ukrainian refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme being announced by the government.

Updated

Riot police arrive at Deripaska's London home to remove squatters

At Oleg Deripaska’s home in Belgrave Square, riot police arrived earlier to remove the squatters, LondonWorld’s Jessica Frank-Keyes reports.

And these are from LondonWorld’s editor, Ralph Blackburn.

Updated

Johnson won't be hosting any Ukrainian refugees himself because of security issues at Downing Street, says No 10

And here is a full summary of the Downing Street lobby briefing.

  • The prime minister’s spokesperson said the government was considering Michael Gove’s proposal for homes owned by sanctioned Russian oligarchs to be used to house Ukrainian refugees - but stressed that this would require a change to the law. (See 1.14pm.) The spokesperson also said this would not be the government’s first option, and that in the first instance Ukrainians should be housed as a result of coming to the UK through the two visa routes already being opened. The spokesperson also did not rule out Chelsea FC’s hotel being used to house refugees, although again he stressed that there might be legal problems with this. “There are some challenges around the special licence that has been created in relation to the sanctions,” he said, in response to a question on this.
  • The spokesperson said Boris Johnson does not plan to take in any Ukrainian refugees himself. “There are specific challenges around security on housing people in No 10,” the spokesperson said.
  • Johnson has been meeting leaders of the offshore oil and gas industry this morning, the spokesperson said. They were discussing “the UK’s energy security and investment in the North Sea”.
  • The spokesperson refused to deny reports saying Johnson will fly to Sauda Arabia later this week for talks with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, about increasing the country’s oil output. He would not confirm a trip could take place either. No 10 often does not give much advance notice of the PM’s travel plans. But the spokesman said the government would be talking to the Saudis about a range of issues, including energy supply and human rights.
  • The spokesperson confirmed that Johnson would be taking MPs’ pay rise next month. It was given to MPs automatically, the spokesperson said. Some MPs have said they will donate the increase - £2,200 a year - to charity.
  • The spokesperson said the Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian military base close to the border with Poland was “deeply concerning”.
  • The spokesperson refused to say whether Johnson was aware that the intelligence agencies had concerns about Evgeny Lebedev long before he nominated him for a peerage. It was reported by the Sunday Times yesterday that the agencies had had concerns about Lebedev from at least 2013, and that Johnson should have known about this in the years when he cultivated his friendship with the Evening Standard owner, whose father was a KGB agent in the 1980s. The spokesperson would not answer, saying No 10 did not comment on national security matters.

Updated

No 10 says law would need to be changed to allow refugees to be homed in sanctioned oligarchs' mansions

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson criticised the people squatting in Oleg Deripaska’s London mansion this morning. (See 12.06pm.) “We don’t think people should break the law. It is illegal,” the spokesperson said.

Asked if the squatters were likely to have been encouraged by Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, who has backed the idea of using mansions owned by sanctioned Russian oligarchs to house Ukrainian refugees, the spokesperson said journalists would have to ask the squatters.

The spokesperson also gave qualified backing for the Gove idea. Asked if the PM supported the idea, he said:

Certainly, that’s something we are looking at ...

We are working to identify the appropriate use for seized propertites while owners are subject to sanctions.

But the spokesperson also conceded that the current law would not allow homes owned by people subject to sanctions to be used in this way. For the government to adopt the Gove plan, the law would have to be changed, he said.

Updated

There will be an urgent questions on the executions in Saudi Arabia in the Commons at 3.30pm. After that, at about 4.15pm, Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, will make a statement about the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

British Future, a thinktank focusing on immigration and identity issues, has published opinion poll research today showing that 75% of Britons think people should be able to seek refuge, here or in other countries, from war or persecution. The research, which also shows a sharp drop in the proportion of Britons wanting the total number of immigrants coming to the UK to be reduced (from 67% in 2015 to 42% now), was carried out before the invasion of Ukraine and Sunder Katwala, the thinktank’s director, says it shows how ministers have misread the public mood on refugees. He says:

The government clearly misread the public mood about Ukrainian refugees and is now playing catch-up to make the generous offer of sanctuary that people feel is right.

This is more than a short-lived, compassionate response to the terrible scenes on the news – underlying attitudes to immigration are becoming more positive over time. While four in ten people still want immigration numbers reduced, half the public now say ‘don’t reduce’. That’s a big shift over the last seven years.

Attitudes to immigration
Attitudes to immigration Photograph: British Future

Updated

This is from Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, about the 500 mobile electricity generators being donated to Ukraine. (See 10.38am.)

Updated

Labour has taken a huge 30-point lead over the Conservatives in London, Kevin Schofield reports for HuffPost. He writes:

The Deltapoll survey puts support for Keir Starmer’s party in the capital at 54 per cent, well ahead of the Tories on 24 per cent. The Lib Dems are on just 9%, with the Greens on 5% ...

At the last borough council elections in London in 2018, Labour received 44% of the vote, with the Tories on 29%.

If the poll’s findings are correct, it means Labour have doubled their lead over the Conservatives since then.

Updated

Squatters occupy Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s London home

Squatters have occupied a house belonging to the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in central London, my colleague Diane Taylor reports. Her full story is here.

Squatters occuping a mansion reportedly belonging to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in Belgravia, London, this morning.
Squatters occuping a mansion reportedly belonging to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in Belgravia, London, this morning. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
Police outside the mansion occupied by squatters.
Police outside the mansion occupied by squatters. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

Petrol prices at forecourts hit record levels despite wholesale costs starting to fall

Fuel prices have broken new records as a slump in wholesale costs failed to make an impact at the pumps, PA Media reports. PA says:

Figures from data firm Experian Catalist show the average cost of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Sunday was 163.5p, while diesel was 173.4p.

A month ago, pump prices were 148p per litre for petrol and 151.6p per litre for diesel.

Oil prices plummeted last week, leading to a cut in wholesale costs for fuel retailers.

This followed a surge in prices due to supply fears caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The price per barrel of Brent crude, the most commonly used way of measuring the UK’s oil price, reached $139 on 7 March, which was its highest level in 14 years.

But the price plummeted to $109 two days later, and remains around that level.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said the average price of petrol “appears to be on a collision course with £1.65 a litre”.

He went on: “While there will almost certainly be more rises this week, drivers should soon get some respite from pump prices jumping by several pence a litre every day as oil and wholesale prices appear to have settled.

“The price hikes seen over the weekend are still a result of the oil price rise which began at the start of the month and peaked early last week.

“As the oil price has now fallen back, we should hopefully reach the peak and start to see prices going the other way to reflect the big drop in wholesale costs seen at the end of last week, subject to no further spikes in the barrel price this week.”

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has condemend the Chinese government for using the national security law in Hong Kong to intimidate Hong Kong Watch, a UK-based charity that monitors human rights in Hong Kong. Benedict Rogers, its chief executive, has been threatened with jail in a letter from the police.

In a post on the charity’s website, Rogers said:

By threatening a UK-based NGO with financial penalties and jail for merely reporting on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, this letter exemplifies why Hong Kong’s National Security Law is so dangerous.

In her statement Truss said:

The unjustifiable action taken against the UK-based NGO Hong Kong Watch is clearly an attempt to silence those who stand up for human rights in Hong Kong.

The Chinese government and Hong Kong authorities must respect the universal right to freedom of speech, and uphold that right in Hong Kong in accordance with international commitments, including the Joint Declaration.

Attempting to silence voices globally that speak up for freedom and democracy is unacceptable and will never succeed.

London mayor backs Gove's plan for refugees to be housed in sanctioned oligarchs' mansions

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, used an interview with Times Radio this morning to back Michael Gove’s proposal for Ukrainian refugees to be houses in the homes owned by Russian oligarchs subject to sanctions. Khan said:

I, for some time, with others, have been complaining about those Russian oligarchs close to [Vladimir] Putin, using our city to launder money by buying homes or businesses. And what’s doubly heart-breaking about the homes they buy is they’re left empty for years. They’re not homes, they’re gold bricks used to launder money.

I think the government should be seizing them, and before selling them - because they’ll take some time - they should be using them to house those Ukrainians who are fleeing Ukraine, who we’ll be offering a safe haven in London.

It’s a form of poetic justice, but also it’s a good use of these many, many empty properties sitting across London simply with dust being gathered inside rather than them being used to house people who need homes.

In his own interviews this morning, Sajid Javid, the health secretary, expressed doubts about the feasibility of Gove’s plan. (See 9.56am.)

The plan was reported yesterday by the Mail on Sunday in its splash. Newspapers routinely report what ministers are planning to do on the basis of background briefings, rather than on-the-record quotes from the minister concerned. But what was unusual about this report was that it was a story about what Gove would like to do but can’t, because he is being blocked by colleagues who think the plan is illegal or unworkable. In his report Glen Owen quoted a “supporter” of the Gove plan describing the ministers critical of the idea as “oligarch apologists”.

Gove has form for this sort of briefing. Shortly after he published his levelling up white paper, he gave an interview to the Financial Times saying he would like to see elected mayors given the power to control business rates. This was not a firm policy included in the white paper because, although favoured by Gove, it was not a measure for which he could secure Treasury approval.

Sadiq Khan.
Sadiq Khan. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA

Updated

UK to supply 500 mobile electricity generators to Ukraine, PM says

The UK has announced that it is supplying 500 mobile electricity generators to Ukraine. This is in response to a direct request from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the government says. In a statement Boris Johnson said:

We are seeing the tragic consequences in Ukraine from Putin’s grave mistake every day, and we will continue to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s resistance against this illegal invasion through economic, diplomatic and humanitarian measures, as well as providing defensive military equipment.

We will now be sending generators to ease the difficulties caused by the current power outages and help keep vital services running so the people of Ukraine can continue to defend their country.

Recent rise in Covid cases was expected, says Javid

In his interviews this morning Sajid Javid, the health secretary, was also asked about Covid. Here are the main points he made.

We keep the situation very carefully under review. There’s no other variant of concern out there that is an issue at this point in time. We have seen some rises in infections over the last week but given the increase in social mixing this was to be expected.

  • He said that only a “handful” of cases of the so-called Deltacron variant had been found in the UK and that they were “not of particular concern”. He said:

I think there’s only a handful of cases here in the UK, it’s not something that’s of particular concern to us at this point in time. We do keep the situation under review on a daily basis, but the dominant variant in the UK - 99.9% of infections – are Omicron infections.

  • He said the next round of booster jabs would start being given towards the end of this morning. He described this as the “fourth dose” and said it would be for people over 75, people living in a care home and people who are immunosuppressed.

Some commentators on Twitter think Javid sounded complacent. This is from Alastair McLellan, editor of the Health Service Journal.

It is worth stressing that the headline McLellan quotes refers to people in hospital with Covid, not people in hospital for Covid (a smaller group).

And this is from Prof Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology and a government science adviser.

Updated

I have updated the post at 9.56am with a quote making it clear that, although Sajid Javid is considering hosting Ukrainian refugees at home, he also doubts he has enough time to act as a proper host. (He is health secretary, which is a demanding job.) I have changed the headline on the post to reflect the new material. See 9.56am.

Javid says he is considering taking in Ukrainian refugees - but doubts he has time to be proper host

And here are some more lines on Ukraine from Sajid Javid’s interviews this morning.

  • Javid, the health secretary, said he was talking to his wife about the possibility of hosting Ukrainian refugees in his own home under the government’s new scheme. He told BBC Breakfast:

I’m starting to have a conversation with my wife on that and I think many households – as you say, and I’m pleased you brought this up – are probably thinking about this across the country.

It’s important that anyone that becomes a host that they can fulfil the obligations of a host, that they can spend time with these families and help, but there are many ways that we can all help and whatever I do at a personal level, I will most certainly be helping.

But, in an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Javid stressed more explicitly that he thought he might not have the time to act as a proper host. He said:

I do think, for me personally, it will be hard to offer the time that I think a host would reasonably [be] expected to have available to help the family that’s arriving, to help to integrate them into British society.

  • He said people hosting Ukrainians under the government’s new Homes for Ukraine programme would be subject to DBS [disclosure and barring service] checks.
  • He said that he thought it was “very unlikely” that Russia would attack a Nato country, but that a “single Russian toecap” on Nato territory would be considered an act of war. (See 9.27am.)

Not the first place – I don’t think it would be practical to make them the first place – but I do know that that is something that my friend Michael Gove is looking at.

I think there’ll be some legal hurdles to try and do that, but it’s right that he looks broadly to see how we can house more and more Ukrainian refugees.

  • He defended Boris Johnson’s plan to visit Saudi Arabia this week to ask it to increase its supply of oil to the west despite the country’s human rights record. At the end of last week Saudi Arabia executed 81 people in 24 hours. Asked about the PM’s visit, Javid told Times Radio:

We’ve had, as a country, a long-standing relationship with Saudi Arabia. It’s always been a very frank relationship where we have been very clear with Saudi Arabia that when it comes to human rights, there’s a lot we disagree on. The executions you just referred to are clearly things that we would not support.

It is important to recognise, whether we like it or not, that Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers and at a time of a major global energy crisis that has been caused by this war in Europe and it is right for the prime minister and other world leaders to engage with Saudi Arabia, and we’re trying to work together where that makes sense.

  • Javid said the 21 Ukrainian children being brought to the UK to receive cancer treatment would be allowed to stay for “as long as necessary”. Taking into account relatives, 49 people are coming to the UK in all. Javid said they would get initial six-month visas, but that these could be extended to three-year ones. After that it would “be up to them to decide what they wish to do”, he said.

Updated

Sajid Javid warns ‘single Russian toecap’ on Nato territory would be act of war

Good morning. At the weekend Russia launched a missile attack on a military base in western Ukraine less than 15 miles from the border with Poland. The strike has heightened fears of the conflict escalating, and this morning Sajid Javid, the health secretary and the minister giving interviews on behalf of the government this morning, said that if a “single Russian toecap” were to step on Nato territory, that would be considered an act of war. He told the Today programme this morning:

We’ve made it very clear to the Russians even before the start of this conflict. Even if a single Russian toecap steps into Nato territory, then it will be considered an act of war.

But Javid also said he thought a Russian attack on Nato territory was “very unlikely”.

Not for the first time, the UK government’s messaging dovetails with Washington’s. This is what President Biden said on Twitter at the end of last week.

I will post more from Javid’s interviews shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

3.15pm: Tony Danker, director general of the CBI, and other experts give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about sanctions against Russia.

After 3.30pm: Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, makes a statement to MPs about the Homes for Ukraine programme.

4pm: Officials involved in the Palace of Westminster restoration and renewal project give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee.

Also today Boris Johnson is meeting fellow leaders from countries contributing to the Joint Expeditionary Force, the north European security coalition (Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and the UK).

And Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy PM, is travelling to The Hague today to offer help to the international criminal court in gathering evidence to support war crimes prosecutions against Russians who have committed atrocities in Ukraine.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.

Updated

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