Former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick welcomes Ukrainian refugee family – but criticises red tape

Former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has become the first MP to take in a Ukrainian refugee family under a new government scheme – but criticised the “bureaucracy” involved.

The Conservative former housing secretary, who lost his government role in last year’s autumn reshuffle, welcomed Maria, 40, and her two children, at Stansted airport earlier this week.

The environment minister, Victoria Prentis, took in a 25-year-old Ukrainian refugee two weeks ago, but under an existing visa protocol rather than the newly established Homes for Ukraine scheme.

The sponsorship programme was established last month amid controversy over the government’s initial policy towards Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, which is now in its seventh week.

The scheme allows people in the UK to sponsor Ukrainian individuals or families, including those with no family links to Britain, to live in their homes for a period of at least six months.

But it has faced intense criticism, and earlier this month refugees minister Richard Harrington admitted during a live radio intervew that it was “embarrassing” that the scheme was “taking so long” to put in place.

According to the latest figures, 16,400 people have arrived in the UK under all visa schemes, but just 3,200 under the Homes for Ukraine programme, with less than half (45.1 per cent) of visa applications made under this programme having been granted.

Speaking on The Daily Telegraph’s Chopper’s political podcast, Mr Jenrick said: “I do think the process has been overly bureaucratic and I think the Home Office often falls into this trap.

“There were simple things that we could and should have done from the outset, like having the form in Ukrainian, for example.

“And I’m not sure whether you need to be doing checks on minors, who are extremely unlikely to be a threat to this country.”

Mr Jenrick, who lives with his wife and three daughters, also described the experience as “quite emotional”, as Maria arrived in the UK with her two children, Christina, 11, and Boden, 15.

He added: “It has been a very difficult experience for them. Even the experience of coming here was traumatic.

“They spent seven hours queueing at the Polish border before they were able to finally leave Ukraine [and] catch the flight to the UK, and the experiences they’ve had and their relatives have had in different parts of the country over the last two or three months are really harrowing.”

On the process itself, he said: “Truth be told it has been a bumpy start to the scheme. It’s taken too long to get visas – for us it took about three weeks to get all three visas approved.

“And so there are people who are frustrated; it has tested the patience of sponsors, and, more importantly, of the families and individuals themselves.

“But having been involved in some schemes that are not dissimilar to this in the past – like the Hong Kong scheme, Syrian scheme, Afghan scheme… as a minister, as communities secretary – I know that. But I do think that we will get over those bumps; we are getting over them now.”

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has previously revealed that he was in discussions to take in a family of three under the same scheme.

But two weeks ago he said he was still struggling to get the three-generation family group from Kyiv to the UK, saying: “I just want to get the family over here, you know, and feel that they’re safe and living with us.”

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.