Bristol City Council is urging the Government to waive visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees, with the Tories joining criticism that the current system is an unfair mess. Mayor Marvin Rees said national political decisions to create a “hostile environment” for those fleeing global hotspots “left us ill-equipped to cope with a world that is increasingly unstable”.
He spoke as a Labour motion, “strengthened” by changes from the Greens, urging Westminster to do more for people leaving Ukraine was passed by a majority at full council. The Green amendment, tabled by the party’s national co-leader and Clifton Down Cllr Carla Denyer, broadened the proposal to cover refugees from other war zones and regions that will be impacted by climate change.
It passed with support from Labour, Greens and the Lib Dems, while Green Cllr Martin Fodor fought back tears and received a standing ovation as he told how he would not exist had his Ukrainian grandmother not been welcomed to Britain as a child refugee over a century ago. But the Conservatives voted against the amendment because it retained the original motion’s demand to scrap the Nationality and Borders Bill going through Parliament, which opponents say would criminalise asylum seekers depending on how they arrive in Britain.
Read more: Bristol mayor calls on residents to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees
The two Knowle Community councillors abstained because the amendment extended the welcome for refugees to those affected in future by global warming and rising tides, which would include “half the world”. Tory group leader Cllr Mark Weston told the meeting on Tuesday, March 15, the motion and the amendment conflated two distinct issues – the bill and the Ukraine refugee crisis.
He said: “I support the Nationality and Borders Bill. I don’t believe you can have a situation where criminal gangs can profit off misery and let that go unchallenged, and I see that as a way to challenge it. By conflating the two issues we can’t support the motion or the amendment, which is upsetting because we agree with a lot of your comments on the Government’s handling of the refugees.
“The Government’s response when it comes to Ukraine and the barbarity inflicted on it by Russia is a mix of very good – we are the ones who armed them before the invasion – and deeply disappointing. The overly bureaucratic nonsense with the visa application routes is shocking. The bit that annoys me more than anything is we saw in Kabul what happened, we had a cock-up back then.
“Did no one look at it and go, ‘Let’s change this, maybe we can learn a lesson from it’? Someone somewhere didn’t pay any attention to the need to rapidly process visas.
"I think you do need a visa route because there are security concerns, but 48 hours should be the maximum, not the minimum, that you process it in, and playing catch-up now after a sea of humanity, millions of people flowing over a border because of thermobaric weapons and the threat of chemical weapons, isn’t good enough, particularly when you were warned about the errors and the problems in the processing six months ago.
"The council on this issue is united. The Government should do better but for God’s sake it has to learn the lessons of this time so the same kind of muddled mistakes don’t happen again.”
Knowle Community Cllr Gary Hopkins said: “We absolutely abhor the Government's bill. It’s appalling, discriminatory and needs to be stopped.”
But he said the amendment stated that those to be offered sanctuary “not only includes people fleeing from wars or oppression but in the future will also include those fleeing the effects of climate change”.
Cllr Hopkins said: “Quite frankly that’s half the world’s population. Without putting any definition on that or any way of testing it, that’s a very serious thing for us to say should happen. We need to deal with climate change, but to say it ranks alongside fleeing war and oppression is not logical and unsupportable. It couldn’t work.”
Cllr Denyer told him: “I’m quite shocked to hear you don’t think those fleeing the extremes of climate change-related destruction deserve the same compassion as those fleeing war.” She denied two issues were being conflated, telling Cllr Weston: “Unlike you, we are demonstrating an understanding of how these two issues are inextricably linked.
“It’s hard to think of a bill more lacking in compassion and fairness.” Cllr Denyer’s amendment added a clause calling on the Government to waive visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees and other conflict zones and lift the ban on asylum seekers working or receiving benefits.
Labour Cllr Marley Bennett, who moved the original motion and welcomed the Greens’ amendment, said: “I am ashamed by the Home Office’s response to the crisis, which was characterised by incompetence and cruelty, sending people to visa centres that didn’t exist and denying entry to people who have tried to jump through all the hoops.” Mr Rees said: “We have real concerns about what appears to be a real ad hoc approach to supporting refugees fleeing Ukraine.
"It could be said we have to do something now and it’s the best we can do but that ignores the context in that the political decision to create a hostile environment has left us ill-equipped to cope with a world that is increasingly unstable.” He said there was a danger of a two-tier refugee system being endorsed around the world based on racial prejudice.
