UK’s Homes for Ukraine sponsor scheme should be offered to Afghan refugees, Tory MPs say

Former cabinet ministers including Baroness Nicky Morgan, Damian Green and have pressed Communities Secretary Michael Gove to make faster progress on resettling Afghans refugees

Tory MPs and charities have urged the Government to extend its Homes for Ukraine sponsor scheme to Afghan refugees holed up in hotels across the country.

Around 15,000 people, including 2,000 children, evacuated Afghanistan last summer after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August.

Some Afghan nationals had already arrived in the UK for resettlement before that date.

But there are still thousands of Afghans stuck in UK hotels as there has been no system to move them into more permanent accommodation.

Rafi Hottak, a former British Forces Interpreter said a number of Afghan refugees he knows are still struggling in hotels.

“Afghan refugees are going through trauma and anxiety,” he said.

“There has been a big change in their lives, housing a larger group of Afghan refugees in close proximity to each other will help them to quickly adjust and integrate into the UK society, this will also help in reducing the anxieties they have and feel more protected.”

Former cabinet ministers Robert Buckland, Baroness Nicky Morgan, Damian Green, Jonny Mercer and Rory Stewart are among charities including Refugee Council and Save the Children who have written a letter to Michael Gove urging him to commit to make faster progress on resettling the Afghans.

The signatories have proposed a phase two of the Homes for Ukraine scheme which will allow business, civi and faith groups to support both Ukrainian and Afghan refugees; mobilising the public desire to offer community support.

Their letter reads: “Different solutions will clearly be needed for Afghan families – for whom rooms in people’s homes will rarely be an appropriate solution.

“But many of those who signed up to help Ukrainians, especially if they don’t ultimately match with a family fleeing the invasion, will be keen to help in other ways to help refugees start a new life in Britain.

“We believe they should be given more opportunities, training, and support to do so.”

Whistleblowers have since said the Government’s response to the crisis in Afghanistan was chaotic and dysfunctional.

Tory MP for Ashford Damian Green MP, former First Secretary of State, said: “This is the time to use the generosity of spirit being shown by so many people to Ukrainian refugees to set up a long-term scheme to allow for planned resettlement of refugees.

“This will be more humane, more efficient and cheaper for the taxpayer in the long run.”

Former Defence minister Johnny Mercer added: “I cannot stress this enough: we owe a duty of care to provide clear routes for refugees and a warm welcome when Afghans get here.

“More urgency is needed from the British Government, and I welcome this important initiative. I have no doubt that the British public will back this.

“We have not only seen a swelling of support for helping the people of Ukraine but in my own constituency, I have seen a deep desire to help Afghans, not least military interpreters still stranded in Afghanistan.”

As of Friday, around 21,000 visas had been issued under the Ukraine family scheme, and a total of 36,300 applications had been submitted, according to data published on the Home Office’s website.

But the number of Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the UK under the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme is “relatively low”, a minister admitted.

Minister for children and families Will Quince said around 1,000 Ukrainians have come to the UK through the visa route which requires someone from the Ukraine to arrange to stay in the home of a UK sponsor.

More than 150,000 people are believed to have registered their interest in the scheme.