A hundred soldiers will be sent to Europe to help UK staff speed up Britain’s shambolic visa process for Ukrainian refugees, the Mirror has been told.
A government insider said the Ministry of Defence had agreed to send 100 military personnel, not in uniform, to help with logistical aspects such as consular support.
The UK has handed out just 850 visas - despite more than 22,000 applications - to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
There was still confusion tonight about whether kind-hearted Brits will be allowed to welcome Ukrainian refugees into their spare bedrooms.
Meanwhile a new 'pop-up' visa processing centre will open tomorrow in Lille, but it will not offer appointments or walk-in access - with the most vulnerable taken there directly.
Tonight ex-PM David Cameron joined outraged Tories calling for the scheme to be made more generous, saying it was “incredibly frustrating”.
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Hailing the appointment of new refugees minister Richard Harrington, he told LBC Radio: “I hope he is allowed to say, if we want to go for shorter visas or it’s just Ukrainian passports or perhaps something else, let’s find a way to get it done.”
There are currently only two routes for Ukrainians to come to the UK - those with family in the UK can live and work in the country freely for at least three years.
Those without family links will be able to come in for 12 months under a sponsorship scheme, but its details will only be confirmed later this week and it is still shrouded in confusion.
Boris Johnson said today the second scheme will allow "everybody in this country" to "offer a home to people fleeing Ukraine ".
But government sources were unable to say if that meant people would be able to put up Ukrainians in their spare room.
Sources told the Mirror key details were still being thrashed out, including whether refugees will need the address where they will stay confirmed before they are awarded a humanitarian visa.
Under the scheme, the sponsor sorts out accommodation for the refugee.
The Home Office has varied between saying exactly who’ll be eligible to become a sponsor.
On March 4 it was “communities, private sponsors or councils”, while on March 7 it was “charities, businesses and individuals”.
Tory MPs lined up yesterday to slam the scheme, and in a terse moment at PMQs today, Tory former chief whip Julian Smith demanded a more “humane” approach.
The deployment of soldiers comes a day after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he would offer Ministry of Defence assistance, amid mounting outrage over the speed of Britain’s response to Europe's largest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Mr Wallace admitted the process needed to be ramped up and said he had offered military logistics support similar to Operation Pitting, the airlift out of Afghanistan.
He said yesterday: “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”.
Former Head of the British Army Lord Dannatt told Times Radio: “That is a national embarrassment, and we don't need to do it. It's an own goal of some significance.”
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Rob Behrens added: “It is vital the Home Office acts to correct failings in its handling of visa applications, especially failings we have previously reported and which we are seeing repeated here.
“In this horrendous situation swift action is needed to make sure the process of getting a visa is simple, accessible and quick. Lives depend on it.”
The government said the number of appointments available across the EU will be increased tenfold to 6,000 per week - though it is not clear when - with more staff at existing centres such as Paris and Brussels.
