More than 120,000 individuals and organisations have expressed an interest in taking in Ukrainian refugees, the Government has said.
According to the latest figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 122,305 expressions of interest have been received by the Homes for Ukraine programme.
The response to the scheme, which encourages members of the public to throw open their homes to people fleeing the fighting in Ukraine, comes amid intense criticism of the Government’s response to the refugee crisis.
Downing Street welcomed the “huge” public response to the appeal for accommodation as a sign of the support in the UK for the Ukrainian people.
But Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the Government was still not doing anything to help those Ukrainians who had fled to neighbouring countries and were now trying to reach Britain.
The new scheme aims to match refugees with individuals, charities and other organisations who can provide accommodation for at least six months, enabling Ukrainians without family ties in the UK to enter the country.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have seen a huge response from the British public. The Prime Minister welcomes the generosity of the British people.
“We knew when we opened the scheme that there would be an outpouring of support but the speed of the uptake and the strength of the interest in this is massively welcome and a sign to the Ukrainian people of the level of support there is for them.”
However Sir Ed, who was visiting the Polish border town of Przemysl, said that – unlike other European countries – there was little help on the ground for those refugees trying to travel on to the UK.
He said the new scheme, which required them to make an online application to be matched with a sponsor in Britain, was too complicated and too bureaucratic.
“Our Government is so wrong. It is just a hopeless way of going about it. They are pretending they are doing something and they really aren’t,” he said in a telephone interview with the PA news agency.
“How are you supposed to meet people on social media? These are people who are traumatised, they are exhausted, they are emotional.
“Sometimes they left in such a hurry they didn’t even bring all their paperwork, apparently they have got to find a British contact somehow. Nonsense.
“We should be here saying if you want to come this is how we will do it for you. The Government isn’t prepared to do the necessary for people who do want to come. It is just shocking.”
