Early evening summary
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has likened Ukraine’s fight for survival to Britain’s fight against the Nazis in a deeply moving speech to MPs delivered by video as they watched in the Commons chamber. Referencing Churchill, Zelenskiy told them that Ukraine would fight to the end, “in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets”. He also restated, in discreet terms, his call for Nato to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying: “Please make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe.” The UK and other Nato powers are opposed to this idea. Boris Johnson did not address this point in his response, but he said the UK would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, and to provide diplomatic, humanitarian and economic support. (See 5.37pm.)
- The UK will phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022 and is exploring options to ending gas imports, the energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed. In its news release, the business department says the UK will be able to manage without Russian oil. It says:
In a competitive global market for oil and petroleum products, demand can be met by alternative suppliers. We will work closely with international partners to ensure alternative supplies of fuel products.
Russian imports account for 8% of total UK oil demand, but the UK is also a significant producer of both crude oil and petroleum products, in addition to imports from a diverse range of reliable suppliers beyond Russia including the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and USA.
The department also says 18% of diesel used in the UK, and 5% of jet oil, is from Russia.
- A large number of Conservative MPs have joined the opposition parties in expressing their fury with the Home Office at the time it is taking to process visa applications from Ukrainians fleeing the war. (See 2.38pm.)
That’s all from me for today. But our Ukraine coverage continues on our global live blog.
Updated
Shortly before President Zelenskiy addressed the Commons, MPs ended the debate on the Labour motion urging to “cancel its planned 1.25 percentage point rise in national insurance contributions that will cost families an average of £500 per year from April 2022”. As it often does on opposition day motions, the government abstained, and the motion was passed unopposed. But it is non-binding, and will have no practical effect.
And here is the text of Keir Starmer’s response to President Zelenskiy.
Every one of us has been moved by the bravery, the resolve, and the leadership of President Zelensky.
Invading troops march through his streets, shells reign down on his people and assassins seek his life.
No one would have blamed him for fleeing. But instead, he has stayed in Kyiv to lead the Ukrainian people and to fight.
He has reminded us that our freedom and our democracy are invaluable.
He has promoted a world into action, where too often we have let Putin have his way.
He has inspired the Ukrainian nation to resist and frustrated the Russian war machine.
He has shown his strength and we must show him - and the Ukrainian people - our commitment and support.
Labour stands for the unity at home and abroad that will isolate the Putin regime.
Labour stands for the toughest sanctions that will cripple the Russian state.
Labour stands for providing Ukraine with the arms it needs to fight off their invaders.
Labour stands with President Zelenskiy, with Ukraine, with democracy. Slava Ukraini.
Updated
Here is the text of Boris Johnson’s reply to President Zelenskiy.
Mr Speaker, may I say that never before, in all our centuries of parliamentary democracy, has the house listened to such an address.
In a great European capital, now within range of Russian guns, President Volodymyr Zelensky is standing firm for democracy and freedom, in his righteous defiance I believe he has moved the hearts of everybody in this house.
At this moment, ordinary Ukrainians are defending their homes and their families against a brutal assault, and they are by their actions inspiring millions with their courage and their devotion.
And I think today, one of the proudest boasts in the free world is: Ya Ukrainets’– “I am a Ukrainian”.
So this is a moment for us to put our political differences aside, Mr Speaker.
I know I speak for the house when I say that Britain and our allies are determined to press on, to press on with supplying our Ukrainian friends with the weapons they need to defend their homeland as they deserve.
To press on with tightening the economic vice around Vladimir Putin and we will stop importing Russian oil. Mr Speaker the business secretary will update the House on that tomorrow.
And we will employ every method – diplomatic, humanitarian and economic Mr Speaker – until Vladimir Putin has failed in this disastrous venture and Ukraine is free once more.
Updated
Key extracts from President Zelenskiy's speech to MPs
Here are extracts from President Zelenskiy’s speech to MPs, as heard by MPs in the English language translation.
Mr Speaker, all the members of parliament, ladies and gentlemen, I am addressing all the people of the United Kingdom and all the people from the country with a big history.
I am addressing you as a citizen, as a president, of also a big country, with a dream and big effort.
I would like to tell you about the 13 days of war, the war that we didn’t start and we didn’t want. However we have to conduct this war, we do not want to lose what we have, what is ours, our country Ukraine ...
Just the same way you once didn’t want to lose your country when the Nazis started to fight your country and you had to fight for Britain ...
Ukraine were not looking to have this war. The Ukraine have not been looking to become big but they have become big over the days of this war. We are the country that are saving people despite having to fight one of the biggest armies in the world. We have to fight the helicopters, rockets ...
The question for us now is to be or not to be. Oh no, this Shakespearean question. For 13 days this question could have been asked but now I can give you a definitive answer. It’s definitely yes, to be.
And I would like to remind you the words that the United Kingdom have already heard, which are important again. We will not give up and we will not lose.
We will fight til the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets ...
We are looking for your help, for the help of western counties.
We are thankful for this help and I am grateful to you Boris.
Please increase the pressure of sanctions against this country (Russia) and please recognise this country as a terrorist country.
Please make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe.
Please make sure that you do what needs to be done and what is stipulated by the greatness of your country.
Glory to Ukraine and glory to the United Kingdom.
Updated
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, says Britain’s support for Zelenskiy should be shown not by the volume of applause, but by the strength of the practical military support and humanitarian assistance it offers. He says we are praying for Ukraine’s success.
That’s it. The Commons is now reverting to the next opposition day debate.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says Ukraine shows why we should never take democracy for granted. MPs stand together with the Ukrainian people.
He suggest Zelenskiy deserves an honorary knighthood. And he says he looks forward to the day when Zelenskiy will be able to visit the UK in person.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, tells Zelenskiy: “We salute you.” We must do all we can to support Ukraine, he says. The soverienty of Ukraine must prevail.
Keir Starmer says no one would have blamed Zelenskiy for fleeing. But he stayed to lead his people and to fight.
He’s reminded us that our freedom and our democracy are invaluable. He’s prompted the world into action, where too often we’ve let Putin have his way. He’s inspired the Ukrainian people to resist and frustrate the Russian war machine.
Starmer says Labour stands for unity at home, for the toughest sanctions against Russia, and for providing Ukraine with the arms it needs.
Johnson praises Zelenskiy, says he is standing firm for democracy
Boris Johnson says never before has the Commons listened to such an address.
President Zelenskiy is standing firm for democracy and freedom, he says.
He says ordinary Ukrainians are standing firm against a brutal assault.
One of the proudest boasts now in the free world is “I am a Ukrainian”, he says (using the Ukrainian version).
Johnson says the UK will press on in doing what it can to help. It will use every method it has, diplomatic, humanitarian and economic, to ensure Ukraine is free once more.
Zelenskiy summons spirit of Churchill, telling MPs Ukraine will fight 'in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets'
Zelenskiy says people are running out of water in some areas.
He refers to the death of 50 children. Ukraine was not looking to become big, but it became big during this way. They have had to fight one of the biggest armies in the world.
The question now is, ‘To be or not to be’, the Shakespearean ones. He can give a definitive answer; it is yes.
We will not give up, and we will not lose. We will fight to the end in the sea, in the air. We will fight for our land, whatever the costs. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.
Zelenskiy is now - deliberately it seems - referencing one of Churchill’s great wartime speeches, also delivered in the Commons.
Zelenskiy says the Russians wanted Ukraine to lay down its arms. But Ukrainians did not.
He says by day three they were able to see which Russians were people, and which were beasts.
By day five constant shelling had been taking place, including against hospitals. But it did not break them.
On day six the Russians shelled the Babyn Yar holocaust memorial.
On day nine there was a Nato meeting. But it did not lead to the result Ukraine wanted (a no-fly zone).
By day 11 children and hospitals were being hit with constant shelling.
Ukrainians became heroes.
On day 12 the losses of the Russian army exceeded 10,000. Among those killed was a general. And that gave the Ukrainians hope, he says.
Zelenskiy compares Ukraine's fight for survival to Britain's fight against the Nazis in second world war
Zelenskiy says he is addressing all the people of the UK – a country with a big history.
Ukraine is a big country too, he says.
He says he would like to tell people about the 13 days of war – a war they did not start. Ukrainians do not want to lose what they have, he says – just as Britons did not want to lose their country when it was attacked by Nazis.
Updated
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the Commons, tells MPs the Ukrainian ambassador is in the chamber.
Addressing President Zelenskiy, he says MPs have admired the fortitude shown by him and his people. He tells Zelenskiy he now has the floor.
MPs give him a standing ovation.
From Politics Home’s Adam Payne
Lindsay Hoyle says he’s “had a message from Ukraine” that President Zelensky will be a couple of minutes late with his address. He’ll speak on channel 3, he tells MPs donning headphones. The Commons is packed, the public gallery full of peers who have come to hear him speak
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) March 8, 2022
From the BBC’s Susan Hulme
Commons more packed than for Budget Day for #Presidentzelensky address. Standing room only now https://t.co/79EzffJyyt
— Susan Hulme (@Susanh12) March 8, 2022
Here is my colleague Dan Sabbagh’s preview of what we can expect from President Zelenskiy’s address to MPs.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address MPs in Commons chamber
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, is about to address MPs. He will be speaking by video link to MPs sitting in the chamber, as they listen on earphones to the simultaneous translation.
Technically he is not addressing the Commons during one if its proceedings – the sitting has been suspended, and the chamber for these purposes is just being used as a venue – but it will feel like a foreign leader addressing a parliament almost as if he were an MP. This is probably unprecedented.
Updated
Foreign Office should have known before war started UK sanctions laws were ineffective, MPs told
Foreign Office officials had not been ready to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs at the start of invasion of Ukraine yet had known as far back as 2019 that its sanctions legislation would be ineffective against Russian oligarchs, one of Britain’s leading sanctions experts told MPs on Tuesday.
Tom Keatinge, director of the RUSI Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, said he had no idea why the officials did not rectify the problem once it had been identified in 2019 saying instead the problem was being addressed under fire in the midst of a crisis.
Giving evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, he said the Foreign Office officials had admitted to him in 2019 that laws passed in 2018 had been gold-plated, and likely to be ineffective. He said the UK has “become gun shy of people with deep pockets and lawyers”, adding the EU was less gun shy because its laws were “easier to apply than the UK’s”.
Keatinge disclosed EU embassies in London had been ringing him over the past fortnight asking why the government was acting so slowly. “They were clearly confused as to why the UK was struggling on the oligarch front. Clearly the UK was not ready,” he said.
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, this week tried to blame Labour shadow ministers and cross-bench peers for inserting a right to judicial review for those being sanctioned into the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act in 2018, but the Foreign Office did not issue any warning at the time about the fatal weaknesses being inserted into the laws as it went through parliament.
Ministers have tried to end the blockage by introducing a new statutory instrument earlier this month revising the original 2018 Act both by giving ministers more sweeping power to sanction anyone supporting the government of Russia and by allowing ministers for an initial 56 days automatically to sanction anyone that has been sanctioned by the EU and the US.
Almost all of the witnesses giving evidence to the committee agreed that sanctions against individuals were likely to be a less effective tool than more generalised sanctions on the Russian economy, including the Russia Central Bank, and potential embargo on Russian oil exports.
Timothy Ash, EM senior sovereign Strategist at BlueBay, estimated that the Russian economy was being hit by 10-20%, adding the rouble was losing half its spending power abroad, something Russian tourists are likely to feel acutely in the summer.
Maria Shagina from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs said Putin’s chances of survival largely depend on whether China wishes to provide a lifeline possibly by buying Russian Gold
Labour has backed the decision to phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year. (See 4.17pm.) In a statement Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for climate and net zero, said:
It is the right decision to ban imports of Russian oil. We need to do everything possible to isolate the Putin regime.
This decision reinforces the case for further action to tackle the cost of living crisis at home. Rising energy bills are already a concern for families up and down the country, which is why Labour has proposed a series of practical costed measures, including a windfall tax on oil and gas producers.
This approach also further underlines the need for a decisive move towards clean energy to improve our resilience as a country and to protect us from rocketing energy prices.
Ex-MP Richard Harrington appointed minister for refugees
During the UQ on refugees earlier MPs - almost universally - called for Ukrainian refugees to have their applications to come to the UK processed more quickly. Some called for simpler or less onerous rules, and many also said more resources should be allocated to the problem. (See 2.38pm.)
One item not on anyone’s wish list was a new ministerial appointment. But that is what MPs have been given, because No 10 has just announced that Richard Harrington, a former business minister, has been appointed minister for refugees.
Harrington, who resigned from the government in 2019 over Theresa May’s failure to rule out a no-deal Brexit and who left parliament later that year, will also be made a peer. As part of his new job he will take over the Afghan resettlement portfolio, which until now Victora Atkins has been doing alongside her justice minister job.
Harrington will serve as a minister of state jointly in the Home Office and in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is responsible for the sponsorship scheme for Ukrainain refugees.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, now has four ministers in her department dealing with immigration matters. Damian Hinds is minister for security and borders, Kevin Foster is minister for safe and legal migration, and Tom Pursglove is minister for tackling illegal migration.
UK to phase out Russian oil imports by end of year, Kwarteng says
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, has said the UK will phase out Russian oil imports by the end of this year.
He also says he is “exploring options” to end Russian gas imports too.
NEW – the UK will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022.
— Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) March 8, 2022
This transition will give the market, businesses and supply chains more than enough time to replace Russian imports – which make up 8% of UK demand.
(1/4)
Businesses should use this year to ensure a smooth transition so that consumers will not be affected.
— Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) March 8, 2022
The government will also work with companies through a new Taskforce on Oil to support them to make use of this period in finding alternative supplies.
(2/4)
The UK is a significant producer of oil and oil products, plus we hold significant reserves.
— Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) March 8, 2022
Beyond Russia, the vast majority of our imports come from reliable partners such as the US, Netherlands and the Gulf.
We’ll work with them this year to secure further supplies.
(3/4)
The market has already begun to ostracise Russian oil, with nearly 70% of it currently unable to find a buyer.
— Kwasi Kwarteng (@KwasiKwarteng) March 8, 2022
Finally, while the UK is not dependent on Russian natural gas - 4% of our supply - I am exploring options to end this altogether.
(4/4)
In remarks to the leaders from the Visegrad group at Lancaster House (see 3.31pm), Boris Johnson told them Vladimir Putin was intent on creating a new “Russian sphere of influence” controlled from Moscow. He said:
When I first had the pleasures of going to your wonderful countries decades ago, all of them were behind what was then called an Iron Curtain and under the Russian sphere of influence.
What we now see today is an assault on another free, democratic, independent European country with the intention of trying to create, again, a Russian sphere of influence, a new Yalta, a new zone of control from Moscow.
Updated
Boris Johnson has been meeting leaders of the Visegrád group of four eastern European countries today. He has also been holding bilateral meetings with his V4 counterparts.
After his meeting with Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian PM, one of the EU leaders least hostile to Russia, No 10 said Johnson had stressed the need to reduce dependence on Russian oil and gas. A No 10 spokesperson said:
Setting out the UK’s plans to go harder and faster on sanctions, the prime minister said he believed it is key the UK and Hungary work together on how they could reduce dependency on Russian gas and oil.
Both agreed that Russia’s destabilising across Europe needed to be countered, including by deepening cyber resilience ties between the UK and Hungary.
And in his meeting with Mateusz Morawiecki, his Polish counterpart, Johnson said “the UK stood ready to increase its military support to Poland, should they require it”, No 10 said.
Updated
UK reportedly 'set to announce ban on import of Russian oil over coming months'
According to Politico’s Emilio Casalicchio and Alex Wickham, the UK will introduce a ban on the import of Russian oil over the coming months.
SCOOP with @alexwickham for UK Trade Pros: UK to ban Russian oil
— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) March 8, 2022
Move will be phased in over months to let the markets adjust and prevent people rushing to petrol pumpshttps://t.co/UOYASGUtOC
Russia normally supplies about 15-20% of UK diesel, according to Autocar. And two years ago it supplied about 11% of the UK’s crude oil imports.
Updated
School attendance figures in England are returning to “something approaching normal”, as the Department for Education’s latest survey of absences showed fewer pupils out of the classroom for Covid-related reasons last week.
Just 0.7% of pupils and students at state schools in England were absent for Covid-related reasons on 3 March, compared with 2.2% in the previous survey taken in February. About 45,000 children were absent with confirmed cases of Covid-19, compared with 136,000 three weeks earlier.
Overall attendance at primary schools is around pre-pandemic levels, with 95% of pupils in the classroom. In secondary schools attendance has risen to 89% compared with 87% previously. However, more than 1% of teachers in state schools were absent with Covid, with more than half of all schools reporting high staff absences.
The Association of School and College Leaders said: “It does seem from these latest figures that life is returning to something approaching normal in our schools, with a Covid-related pupil absence figure of below 1% for the first time in a very long time.”
Updated
The Welsh minister for social justice, Jane Hutt, has called on the Westminster government to make it easier for refugees to reach the UK and said that citizens across her country had offered rooms for those fleeing the war. Speaking at a press conference in Cardiff, Hutt said:
The UK government must make it easier for refugees – who are mainly women and children – to be able to come to the UK, and to Wales.
It must remove all unnecessary red tape and any bureaucracy and provide a streamlined application process for all those fleeing the war in Ukraine.
I’m also calling on the UK government to create a fully-funded refugee resettlement scheme, drawing on the previous experience from the Afghan and Syrian programmes.
Councils across Wales have been receiving offers of accommodation from people, who have spare rooms available and want to help. We don’t know yet when people may begin arriving from Ukraine or how many may come but we are prepared to support all those who do.
Tory MPs express fury with Home Office over delays in admitting Ukrainian refugees
It is not hard to see what Priti Patel, the home secretary, dispatched one of her junior ministers, Kevin Foster, to answer the urgent questions about delays in processing visa applications from Ukrainian refugees. Foster was monstered by MPs from across the house, with Conservative MPs just angry as ones from the opposition parties about the attitude taken by the Home Office.
Foster opened by saying that now 500 visas have been issued under the Ukraine family scheme (one of the two visa schemes for Ukrainians). Last night the figure was 300. But this is such a tiny number in the light of the fact that total refugee numbers have passed two million that Foster might have been better off not mentioning the number at all.
The most aggressive Tory intervention came from Sir Roger Gale, how argued that Patel should resign for misleading MPs. He said:
I’m sorry that the Home Secretary is not here today to answer. In response to my question yesterday, the Home Secretary said ‘I have already made it clear in terms of the visa application centre that has now been set up en route to Calais that we have staff in Calais’. That was untrue and under any normal administration that in itself would be a resignation [issue]. There is no visa centre at Lille yet, in spite of the fact that the foreign secretary earlier this morning said that there was.
Other Conservatives did not follow him in calling for Patel’s resignation. And mostly they did not follow Gale in calling for a visa waiver scheme for Ukrainians. But, although they broadly accepted Foster’s argument that visas are still needed, there was near-universal consensus that the Home Office was acting far too slowly, and some real anger about the impact on Ukrainians. When Foster suggested that the second scheme for Ukrainians (the sponsorship one) might take weeks to become operational (see 1.12pm), that only angered some MPs even more.
Opposition MPs were just as passionate, but their views carry a lot less clout at No 10.
Here are some of the most striking Tory interventions, which came from leavers and remains, from the right and the left.
From Alec Shelbrooke
I’m proud of my constituents who are coming forward to offer as much help as possible, I’m proud of the prime minister in the way he’s leading the world, but the Home Office is cutting off their legs and it is simply not good enough.
Does the Home Office recognise that this is a war of the likes that has not been seen for 80 years in Europe? We don’t want to stand in this House and listen to plans and processes, we want dates, we want action and the Home Office must react far more quickly than it’s doing and get to the point of hubs of people, get them processed and get them in.
This is a disgrace. When the minister leaves the despatch box I ask him to go back to the Home Office and tell them to get a grip.
From Steve Brine
So much about this doesn’t feel right. My constituents know what they see. All of this is far too robotic and, to take up the point made on the other side, there is very little Christian compassion being shown at the moment. Surely we are past the UK saying we are going to have a generous scheme? It is time to deliver a generous scheme.
The family scheme is too slow, the humanitarian sponsorship route which I raised in the Commons yesterday with the secretary of state is still in design over at the Department of Communities ... At the very least, can we have a very simple online gateway up and running tomorrow where constituents who want to help can at least register their interest? There is so much compassion and want to help, and people are not able to do so.
From Siobhan Baillie
Stroud people want to understand what the chuff is going on.
From Andrew Murrison
Salisbury borders my constituency, I fully accept the need for security checks, particularly on adult males. (See 12.46pm.)
But the fact remains that the Republic of Ireland, with which we share a common travel area, has a population of five million, but has committed to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, has admitted already over 2,000.
This country, population 67 million, has come nowhere even close to that. Why not?
Updated
Bercow suspended from Labour party after parliamentary inquiry brands him liar and bully
John Bercow is being suspended from the Labour party in the light of today’s report branding him a liar and a bully, party sources have indicated, pending an investigation
Bercow was elected to parliament as a Conservative, on the right of the party, but as Speaker he had to abandon party allegiance. His politics shifted considerably during his parliamentary career and, after he stood down as Speaker, he joined the Labour party.
Here is our story about the findings of the inquiry into Bercow’s conduct while he was Speaker.
Damian Green, the Tory former first secretary of state, told the World at One that the Home Office needed to adopt a “more radical” response to the refugee crisis. A former Home Office minister, Green explained:
I think the underlying problem is that what the Home Office is trying to do, and this is the Home Office as an institution, is try to tweak the existing immigration system rather than recognise that this is a unique situation. [There is] war in Europe – that has not been seen for decades - and actually it requires a more radical response ...
If the problem is that there aren’t enough people at visa application centres, then get more people in those visa application centres. If that means they have to be taken off other duties, then so be it.
Updated
UK ambassador to Brazil to join No 10 as PM's new principal private secretary
Boris Johnson has a new principal private secretary, a replacement for the senior official who invited staff to a “bring your own booze” party during lockdown, PA Media reports. PA says:
The UK’s ambassador to Brazil Peter Wilson will take up the role in Downing Street from Monday.
He replaces Martin Reynolds, who returns to the Foreign Office after his time in No 10 was tarnished by the partygate row.
Reynolds sent an email inviting staff to “socially-distanced drinks” in the No 10 garden on May 20 2020 when the lockdown rules only allowed people to mix socially with one other person outside.
Wilson has been the UK’s ambassador to Brazil since January 2021.
He was previously ambassador to the Netherlands and second ambassador to the UN in New York.
These are from LBC’s Matthew Thompson showing the scene outside a UK visa application centre in Poland.
We’re outside the UK visa application centre in Rzezsow, Poland.
— Matthew Thompson (@mattuthompson) March 8, 2022
It’s -3 degrees. People have been waiting in this queue for 3 hours.
There are children here. An 84 year old woman.
And plenty of room inside, but they won’t open the door. pic.twitter.com/jlvRi8MfOy
People in the queue here all say the same thing. If they happened to live in France, or Germany, they wouldn’t need to be here at all. They could just take their relatives with them.
— Matthew Thompson (@mattuthompson) March 8, 2022
The U.K. has quite literally left them out in the cold.
And these are from Sky’s Kate McCann, about the same place.
Sounds like chaos at UK visa application centre in Rzeszow, Poland. Not enough staff, computer problems, refugees told a paper list queue would get priority over online bookings - 150 on paper list then told online bookings prioritised instead. People being turned away...
— Kate McCann (@KateEMcCann) March 8, 2022
Elderly people, children, desperate families with nowhere else to go and no accurate info. It is cold, there are not enough chairs, no food and those waiting in person hoping to get through are not allowed to leave or they lose their place in a queue which may not be honoured.
— Kate McCann (@KateEMcCann) March 8, 2022
This is from the Labour MP Chris Bryant on the UQ, which has just finished.
Kevin Foster is quite rightly getting roasted in the Commons for the Government’s appallingly laggard attitude on visas for Ukrainian refugees.
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 8, 2022
Tom Hunt (Con) asks if the rules for family members could be relaxed, so that eligibity could be transferred to someone who might not strictly qualify.
Foster says the sponsorship route would cover people in these circumstances.
Jason McCartney (Con) says the government has done a lot for Ukraine with diplomacy and military aid. So why is it dragging its feet on refugees? He says the visa application offices should be open 24 hours a day.
Foster says the government is looking at how the process could be simplified. He suggests under-18s could be told they do not need an appointment at a visa application centre.
Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader, says the Home Office has misread the country. He says, like other MPs, he has been inundated by people offering to sponsor refugees. But they cannot, because the scheme has not been set up.
Foster repeats the point about how the government is working “at pace’ on this.
Julian Sturdy (Con) says it is not acceptable for Foster to say that the sponsorship scheme will be set up within weeks. That is not good enough, he says.
Foster says the Home Office is moving at pace on this.
Siobhan Baillie (Con) says her constituents in Stroud want to know “what the cuff” is going on. She says the government should use all options to speed up the process.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, says this government is happy to overturn security advice when it comes to granting a peerage to the son of a KGB agent, but it puts obstacle after obstacle in the way of refugees trying to come to the UK.
Alec Shelbrooke (Con) says this is “simply not good enough”. Doesn’t the Home Office recognise that a war is taking place unlike any for 80 years. MPs want action, he says. He says what is happening so far is a “disgrace”. He urges Foster to return to his office and get a grip.
James Gray (Con) says he has constituents who are a professional couple in Poland trying to help relatives from Ukraine get a visa. But he says they are working “late into the night” dealing with the complexities of the application process. He says he does not favour a visa waiver scheme, but he thinks the system must be simplified.
Foster says Gray is making a good point.
Ben Bradshaw (Lab) says Kremlin operatives have easier ways to get into the UK than pretending to be refugees. He says the minister should not be using this as an excuse for his department’s “mean spirited and shambolic approach”. The government should just offer visa-free entry for a limited period, he says.
Helen Hayes (Lab) says the existing community sponsorship scheme for refugees can take up to a year to place someone. Will the new scheme operate more quickly?
Foster says the Home Office is aware of this, and wants the sponsorship scheme for Ukrainians to be simpler and quicker than the scheme already in place.
Steve Brine (Con) says “so much of this does not feel right”. He says the government’s response is “too robotic”. He says “there’s very little Christian compassion being shown at the moment”. If the government says it is going to set up a generous scheme, it should set one up, he says. He says people want to be able to help, but are not being enabled to.
Andrew Murrison (Con) says Ireland has a population of 5 million, and it has committed to take 100,000 Ukrainians. It has taken more than 2,000 already. The UK has a population of 67 million, but it has taken nothing like that number. Why not?
Foster says the government expects to take 100,000 people through the family route, and an unlimited number through the sponsorship route.
Updated
Foster suggests it may take weeks for sponsorship scheme for Ukrainian refugees to be operational
Mark Harper (Con) says, as a former minister, he appreciates the difficulties Foster faces. But he says the government needs to act more quickly. He says he was concerned by Foster’s suggestion that it might take weeks or months for the sponsorship scheme to be set up. He says it should happen more quickly. He says he would like to hear an announcment on Thursday.
Foster says the government does not want this to take months. He says he hopes the UK will be welcoming people under the scheme within weeks.
Updated
Nia Griffith (Lab) asks why the government won’t allow a broader system welcoming any Ukrainians.
Foster says the sponsorship scheme will be open to a wide range of people. But he says the “vast majority” of Ukrainians want to remain in the region.
Damian Green, the former Tory first secretary of state, asks how long it will take to set up the sponsorship scheme. And he asks why biometric checks cannot be carried out when people are in the UK.
Foster says the people applying are in safe countries.
He says the government does not want to use immigration detention while checks are carried out.
Dame Andrea Leadsom, the former Tory cabinet minister, says it is “shocking” to hear opposition MPs jeering at the argument that checks are needed to protect Britons from Salisbury-style attacks. (See 12.46pm.)
But she says she is concerned about the speed at which visa applications are being processed.
This is from Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, on Priti Patel’s non-attendance at the UQ.
So @pritipatel hasn’t even turned up for Urgent Question after yesterday’s day of chaos, confusion & wrong information from her on cruel & unjust policy on 🇺🇦 refugees - what an insult to those fleeing Putin’s horror- she needs to give answers & to step up with visa waivers now
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) March 8, 2022
Dame Diana Johnson (Lab), chair of the home affairs committee, asks why Priti Patel, the home secretary, briefed journalists on Sunday that she was considering setting up a new humanitarian route for Ukrainians wanting to come to the UK. Others in government have dismissed the idea. But it would have a lot of support, she says.
Foster says the sponsorship scheme will offer opportunities to people to come to the UK who cannot use the family route.
Caroline Nokes (Con) asks what will happen to Ukrainians without passports. Foster said the government was acting at pace, but Nokes says snails move at pace too. The government needs to act more quickly, she says.
Foster says it won’t take “months” to set up the sponsorship scheme for Ukrainians wanting to come to the UK.
He repeats the claims that visas are necessary because people are arriving at Calais with false documents, and making claims that are untrue.
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Sir Roger Gale (Con) says Priti Patel told MPs yesterday that a visa application centre en route to Calais had already been set up. That was untrue, he says. He says in a normal administration that would be a resignation matter.
He says the government should set up a visa waiver system so that children and adults with Ukrainian passports can enter the country now.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, says Priti Patel should have been here to answer this statement herself. She says Patel told MPs yesterday a visa application centre had been set up en route to Calais, but it still does not exist.
She says the Home Office should have been better prepared because British intelligence warned that an invasion was going to happen. She says there should be visa application centres at all major travel points.
UPDATE: Here is a clip of Cooper’s speech.
Ukrainian refugees are being 'told to go to Brussels, where the visa centre is only open three days a week, or Paris where people are still being told the next appointment is the 15th of March - a week away'@YvetteCooperMP attacks the government's handling of Ukrainian refugees pic.twitter.com/EfnjjflUKh
— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) March 8, 2022
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Foster confirms the Home Office is setting up a visa application centre in Lille. He says it should be up and running withing 24 hours.
Minister says Ukrainians need visas to enter UK because government won't 'take chances' with security
Kevin Foster, the immigration minister, summarises the measures already taken by the government.
But he says visas are required for security reasons. (EU countries are not requiring Ukrainains to obtain visas to enter.) He says there have been cases of people using false documents and claiming to be Ukrainian.
With incidents like Salisbury still in our minds, the government’s will not take chances with the security of this country and our people, our friends in the United States, Canada and Australia are rightly taking the same approach as we are.
He confirms that the government is looking to establish a larger visa application presence in northern France.
Sir Geoffery Clifton-Brown (Con) asks his urgent question about visa applications for Ukrainians. (See 11.28am.)
But Priti Patel is not replying. She has sent Kevin Foster, the immigration minister, instead.
According to the Times’s Matt Dathan, the Home Office is saying that they did not announce yesterday where their new visa application centre was going to be opening in France in case Ukrainians started heading towards it.
The Home Office has confirmed that the new visa application centre "en-route" to Calais will be in Lille - 70-odd miles away. https://t.co/gNAuqy7xgp
— Matt Dathan (@matt_dathan) March 8, 2022
But the Home Office won't give a date for when the Lille visa application centre will open. It's "tbc".
— Matt Dathan (@matt_dathan) March 8, 2022
The reason they didn't announce where it would be yesterday was due to fears that people would travel to Lille and gather there...
Boris Johnson told ministers at cabinet this morning that the government would be “as generous as we could” to Ukrainian refugees, Downing Street said. At the morning lobby briefing the No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister paid tribute [at cabinet] to the Ukrainian people for their heroic continued resistance to Putin’s unprovoked and illegitimate attack on the country.
The prime minister said in the face of this brave resistance it was clear that [Vladimir] Putin miscalculated and was now increasing his level of violence, with evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians ...
The prime minister said that we would be as generous as we could in our support to Ukraine refugees and the home secretary set out the extra resources we’re putting in place into processing visas for those Ukrainians who have been forced to flee.
A new cabinet committee will be set up to coordinated work on the response to the situation in Ukraine, chaired by Steve Barclay, the No 10 chief of staff, the spokesperson said.
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The Lib Dems are urging Conservative-run Kensington and Chelsea council to rename the street the Russian embassy is on. The embassy is on Kensington Palace Gardens, ut the Lib Dems say it should be renamed Zelenskiy avenue, in honour of the Ukrainian president. “This small but meaningful gesture would match the outpouring of support from Londoners,” Layla Moran, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson, said.
The Lib Dems say there is precedent for this. They say:
Vilnius, Lithuania, will change the name of the street the Russian embassy is on to “Heroes of Ukraine Street”. Tirana, Albania, will also call their street “Free Ukraine Street”, and [the equivalent street in] Riga in Latvia is due to be called “Independent Ukraine Street”.
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Tory MP accuses Priti Patel of misleading Commons about visa facilities for Ukrainians in Calais
The Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has accused Priti Patel, the home secretary, of misleading the Commons about the visa facilities for Ukrainians in Calais. He posted these on Twitter earlier (and before Liz Truss revealed Lille as the location of a new pop-up visa application centre).
The Home Secretary has misled the House of Commons. In response to my question yesterday she said “I have made it clear, in terms of the visa application centre that has now been set up en-route to Calais that we have staff in Calais.” 1/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) March 8, 2022
That is untrue. There was no visa application centre ‘en-route to Calais’ & refugees from the war in Ukraine are being sent back to Paris or Brussels to obtain visas. 2/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) March 8, 2022
What is needed is a visa waiver scheme that allows Ukrainian children and adults with a valid Ukrainian passport to be allowed into Britain without unnecessary bureaucracy and delay. 3/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) March 8, 2022
Sky’s Kate McCann says earlier this morning the Home Office was refusing to say where the new pop-up visa application centre for Ukrainians heading for Calais was going to be based.
👀I think Liz Truss may have just announced the location of the Home Office's new 'pop-up' visa centre for Ukrainian refugees in France. It is not in Calais, it is in Lille, almost 75 miles away. Home Office spox refused to say where it was just 20 mins ago.
— Kate McCann (@KateEMcCann) March 8, 2022
Truss says Ukrainians seeking visas in Calais can use new application centre in Lille (70 miles away)
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is taking questions in the Commons. Labour’s Diane Abbott asked if she agreed that the failure of the Home Office to have a visa application centre at Calais for Ukrainians was brining the UK into disrepute.
In her reply, Truss said the Home Office has announced a pop-up application site in Lille.
This might explain the confusion generated by Priti Patel, the home secretary, in the Commons yesterday when she was responding to complaints about the absence of a visa application centre (VAC) at Calais. Patel said a VAC was being set up, and she implied it was near Calais. She told MPs:
We are supporting those who have been coming to Calais. It is also important that we do not create choke points in Calais but encourage a smooth flow of people. In particular, I confirm that we have set up a bespoke VAC en route to Calais but away from the port because we have to prevent that surge from taking place.
Lille is (more or less) en route from Paris to Calais. But it is not remotely close, and (if this is the VAC Patel was referring to) it certainly is “away” from the port - about 70 miles away.
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Shell says it will stop buying Russian oil
Oil giant Shell has apologised for buying a shipment of Russian oil last week at knock-down prices as it promised to slowly end its involvement in all Russian oil, gas and petroleum, PA Media reports. PA says:
We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel - despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking - was not the right one and we are sorry,” said chief executive Ben van Beurden.
The business said it will immediately stop all spot purchases of Russian crude oil and will shut its service stations, aviation fuel and lubricants operations in Russia.
Withdrawal from other associations with Russia will happen “in a phased manner, aligned with new government guidance”, the company said.
The announcement follows the withdrawal of several major international companies from Russia following its unprovoked full invasion of Ukraine.
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Speaker grants Commons urgent question for 12.30pm on speeding up visas for Ukrainians
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP, has been granted an urgent question on speeding up the processing of visa applications from Ukrainians. He wants Priti Patel, the home secretary, to respond, and the UQ will come at 12.30pm.
Last night the Home Office said 300 visas had already been issued. Simon Hoare, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee, tweeted this in response.
So that’s 300 approved against 17,700 applications started. It’s simply not good enough/fast enough. Perhaps the visa approach is the wrong one as it doesn’t allow for humanitarian urgency https://t.co/xfqJhK9Hup
— Simon Hoare MP (@Simon4NDorset) March 8, 2022
Bercow branded a 'serial bully' and 'serial liar' by parliamentary standards watchdog
The independent expert panel, the body set up to consider bullying and harrassment allegations against MPs, has now published its report into the allegations against John Bercow, the former Commons Speaker. It’s here (pdf).
This is probably the most damning report published by the IEP since it was set up in 2020. It describes Bercow as a liar. In reference to one complaint it says:
The respondent [Bercow] has been widely unreliable and repeatedly dishonest in his evidence. He has attempted to defeat these complaints by false accusations of collusion and by advancing lies.
And it says the findings are so serious that, if Bercow were still an MP, it would recommend his expulsion.
The findings of the parliamentary commissioner for standards, which we have upheld, show that the respondent has been a serial bully ...
His evidence in the investigations, the findings of the commissioner, and his submissions to us, show also that the respondent has been a serial liar.
His behaviour fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect from any member of parliament.
The respondent’s conduct was so serious that, had he still been a member of parliament, we would have determined that he should be expelled by resolution of the house. As it is, we recommend that he should never be permitted a pass to the parliamentary estate.
Sir Stephen Irwin, who chaired the IEP sub-panel that considered the case, said:
The ICGS [independent complaints and grievance system] bullying and harassment policy was breached repeatedly and extensively by the most senior member of the House of Commons. In all, 21 separate allegations were proved and have been upheld. The house may feel that his conduct brought the high office of Speaker into disrepute.
This was behaviour which had no place in any workplace. Members of staff in the house should not be expected to have to tolerate it as part of everyday life.
John Bercow, the former Commons Speaker, has said he will be denied a parliamentary pass after an investigation found him guilty of bullying allegations, PA Media reports.
The bakery chain Greggs has warned of spiralling cost pressures as commodity prices surge following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding it will have to raise prices further, my colleague Julia Kollewe reports.
War in Ukraine will lead to Putin's downfall, says Wallace
Here are the main points from Ben Wallace’s morning interview round.
- Wallace, the defence secretary, said his department would help the Home Officee process visa applications for Ukrainians wanting to come to the UK. He said:
Once [Ukrainian refugees have] got to safety, making sure we just check their identity before they come to this country, it is incredibly important that we do that.
It shouldn’t take time. And I’ve offered, I will be offering, to the Home Office assistance from the MoD in the same way we did in Op Pitting [the evacuation of Afghanistan] to increase the processing time to help those people.
I know the home secretary is determined to speed [the process] up ...
Of course, we can do that quicker, we are leaning into that, the home secretary is determined to do that quicker, I will give her all the support I can.
- He predicted that the war would lead to the downfall of Vladimir Putin. Asked how it might end, he said:
This will be Putin’s end, this country, and so it should be because of, not only their spirit and the moral component that they have on their side - the Ukrainians - but also because it will be an impossible task to occupy such a people and a country.
And he also called Putin a spent force. He said:
Whatever we think about President Putin, he is done. He is a spent force in the world. No one will be taking his phone calls in the long term.
He has exhausted his army, he is responsible for thousands of Russian soldiers being killed, responsible for innocent people being killed, civilians being killed in Ukraine.
He is reducing his economy to zero, because the international community has decided that is absolutely unacceptable, what he’s done.
So he is a spent force in the world and I don’t know whether he thinks that’s a clever thing to be, but that diminishes his own country in the world and he has to take responsibility for that.
- He predicted that the war would end either in retreat by the Russian military, or an unsuccessful occupation. Asked how it would end, he said:
Either when the Russian forces are so stuck and defeated that the Russian armed forces effectively turn in on itself and the generals get blamed and then it grinds to a halt, or Russia imposes its total will, which it is already trying to do by trying to break the people of Ukraine.
Putin won’t break the people of Ukraine but ... he is doing everything he can to break the country’s infrastructure and their supply lines for food.
The cost to Putin is not just in the invasion, it’s going to be in the decades of occupation, which I don’t think he will be able to sustain.
- He said it was up to Poland to decide whether or not to provide Ukraine with fighter jets. Poland has the MiG-29 used by the Ukrainian airforce, he said. The US has offered to provide Poland with replacement jets if it does supply some of its planes to Ukraine, but Wallace said Poland had to make a choice because it would suffer consequences. He said:
Poland will understand that the choices it makes will not only directly help Ukraine, which is a good thing, but also may bring them into direct line of fire from countries such as Russia or Belarus.
They will have to calibrate that. That’s a really big responsibility on the shoulders of the president of Poland and, indeed, defence minister.
So, it’s not for me to second-guess their choice. But it is for me as a fellow Nato member to say I will stand by Poland.
- He said he expected to make a statement to MPs on the conflict tomorrow.
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War in Ukraine will contribute to Britons facing ‘biggest fall in real-terms disposable income for 50 years’, says thinktank
Good morning. In the House of Commons today MPs will debate a Labour motion about the national insurance increase, and the impact this will have on family finances. Later, in an unprecedented event, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will address MPs sitting in the Commons chamber by video link, from the beseiged city of Kyiv where his life is at risk. (In the past, when distinguished foreign leaders have been invited to address MPs in parliament, they have done so in person at Westminster Hall, but the Zelenskiy invitation is a consequence of Covid opening up the advantages of virtual proceedings.)
The Ukraine war and the cost of living crisis are generally seen as separate issues, but a report today from the Resolution Foundation thinktank argues that they are closely entwined. It says the war could contribute to Britons suffering the biggest fall in real-terms disposable income for almost 50 years. It says:
The conflict in Ukraine is forecast to further push up energy prices and wider inflation (to over 8 per cent this Spring), causing typical household incomes across Britain to fall by 4 per cent in the coming financial year (2022-23), the sharpest fall since the mid-1970s, according to the Resolution Foundation’s annual Living Standards Outlook for 2022.
Here is the thinktank’s summary, here is the report in full and here is my colleague Richard Partington’s story on it.
And here is the key graph.
From our latest Living Standards Outlook - the conflict in Ukraine is forecast to further push up energy prices and wider inflation, causing typical household incomes across Britain to fall by 4 per cent in 2022-23, the sharpest fall since the mid-1970s https://t.co/STFPbDdbo2 pic.twitter.com/7LtmqwDJgJ
— Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation) March 8, 2022
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, was doing the morning interview round this morning. He said the government would be speeding up the processing of visa applications for Ukrainians, after the Home Office revealed last night that just 300 visas have already been granted, he said the Ministry of Defence was offering to help with visa processing and he claimed the war would lead to the downfall of President Putin. I will summarise his interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
Late morning: Johnson meets the leaders of the Visegrad group (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) at No 10.
11.30am: Liz Truss, the foreign secretary takes questions in the Commons.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs begin debating a Labour motion calling for the national insurance increase coming into force next month to be cancelled.
2.30pm: Sajid Javid, the health secretary, gives a speech on healthcare reform.
5pm: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainain president, addresses a session of the House of Commons by video.
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