Tory MPs lined up to condemn Priti Patel today over the shambolic handling of refugees’ plight.
Conservatives were among MPs voicing fury after ministers said a visa centre for desperate Ukrainians hoping to come to Britain will be set up 70 miles from Calais in Lille.
More than two million people have left their homeland.
But just 500 British visas so far have been granted to people fleeing Vladimir Putin ’s forces.
Bungling Home Office ministers were tonight scrambling to quell mounting criticism.
Beleaguered Immigration Minister Kevin Foster - who appeared in the Commons instead of Ms Patel - was slammed by all sides as he claimed checks were needed to thwart Russian spies pretending to be Ukrainian asylum seekers from slipping into Britain and carrying out nerve agent attacks.
No10 announced a special Minister for Refugees as Downing Street tried to catch up with the public mood.
But veteran Tory backbencher Sir Roger Gale suggested Home Secretary Priti Patel should quit.
Quoting Ms Patel’s words from 24 hours earlier, he told the Commons: “The Home Secretary said, ‘I have already made it clear in terms of the visa application centre that has now been set up en route to Calais, that we have staff in Calais’.
“That was untrue, and under any normal administration, that in itself would be a resignation issue.”
Conservative Tracey Crouch said some refugees could wait seven weeks for an appointment at a Polish centre.
She said: “We have been advised to get people to Rzeszów in Poland for biometric testing to support their application, but the word on the ground is that there are no biometric appointments in Rzeszów until the end of next month.”
Former Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said: “Snails also move ‘at pace’.”
A long line of MPs slammed the Home Office for the fact a sponsorship route for Ukrainians with no family links to the UK is still not set up.
It will allow Brits, firms and charities to bring refugees to the UK for an “initial” 12 months if they provide accommodation.
There are hopes warm-hearted Brits could give up their spare rooms - but there is still no date for the scheme to launch.
Tory MP Steve Brine added: “So much about this doesn’t feel right and my constituents know what they see.
“All of this is far too robotic, and there’s very little Christian compassion being shown at the moment.
“Surely we are past the UK saying we’re going to have a generous scheme - it’s time to deliver a generous scheme.”
Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke said: “I’m proud of my constituents who are coming forward to offer as much help as possible. I’m proud of the Prime Minister in the way he is leading the world.
"But the Home Office is cutting off their legs. And it is simply not good enough. Does the Home Office recognise that this is a war of the likes that’s not been seen for 80 years?”
He added: “This is a disgrace… Get a grip!”
Tory MP Julian Sturdy said: “Now is not the time for box-ticking and red tape. Now is the time to do everything we can.No more excuses.
"Weeks is simply not good enough! These are women and children! We have to speed it up!”
Ministry of Defence officials will help process visa applications, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace revealed.
But the defiant Home Office tonight continued to resist pleas for a visa application centre at Calais - the port in northern France closest to Britain where Ukrainian refugees have mustered in the hope of joining relatives already in the UK.
Instead, the ministry is opening a “pop-up” centre in Lille, with Eurostar laying on free trains to help exhausted and frightened families travel from Calais to Lille for processing.
Amid rising anger that refugees gathering in Calais were being sent to Brussels and Paris for checks, the Home Office initially refused to say where a promised centre “en route to Calais” would be set up.
But Foreign Secretary Liz Truss let slip to the Commons that it was Lille.
Immigration Minister Mr Foster then faced furious MPs demanding to know why the processing of applications was taking so long.
Shadow Home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Two million refugees have left Ukraine. Other countries are supporting hundreds and thousands of people.
“The Home Office is currently issuing just around 250 family scheme visas a day.
"Most want to stay close to home but some want to come here to join family or friends, and we should be helping them.
“Instead most people are still being held up by our Home Office bureaucracy or being turned away."
Mr Foster claimed security checks were needed on refugees to make sure they were not Kremlin agents who could unleash a nerve agent attack in Britain - like the 2018 novichok atrocity in Salisbury.
The Government "will not take chances with the security of this country and our people", Mr Foster told MPs.
He added: “Sadly, we are already seeing people presenting at Calais with false documents claiming to be Ukrainian.
“With incidents like Salisbury still in our minds, the Government will not take chances with the security of this country and our people.”
Furious MPs lined up to condemn the Home Office approach.
SNP MP Stuart C McDonald fumed: "Don’t quote Salisbury at us, that has absolutely nothing to do with this."
Tory MP Andrew Murrison added: “Salisbury borders my constituency. I fully accept the need for security checks, particularly on adult males.
"But the fact remains that Ireland, with which we share a common travel area, has a population of 5million but has committed to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine and has admitted already over 2,000. This country, population 67million, has come nowhere even close to that. Why not?”
Lib Dem Tim Farron said Mr Foster had “misread the country”, with British families “desperate” to help Ukrainians.
The party’s home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "This is yet more chaos and incompetence from the dysfunctional Home Office.”
Defending the Government’s handling of the crisis, Mr Foster said it had “brought forward a generous humanitarian offer to those Ukrainians who want to come to the UK to escape the conflict”.
He added: “Last week, the Home Secretary announced a new Ukraine family scheme for those with family ties to the UK, and we are extending the scheme further to include aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins and in-laws.
“The scheme went live last Friday and has already seen over 10,000 applications submitted, for which over 500 visas have been issued, with more being issued as we speak.
“We have also announced that we are setting up a new humanitarian sponsorship visa, and we are working at pace with our colleagues in the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities to set that up.”
Foreign Secretary Ms Truss also faced MPs’ rage when she answered questions in the Commons.
Shadow Foreign Office Minister Catherine West blasted a “paltry effort to offer refuge” and accused the Government of a "shameful lack of humanity", saying the shambles was a "stain" on its efforts to tackle the Ukraine crisis.
Former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said sending Ukrainian refugees who want to come to Britain to Brussels and Paris to apply for visas "brings the UK into disrepute".
SNP frontbencher Chris Law blasted the Home Office's “continued xenophobic and inhumane immigration policy”, claiming it was “a complete humiliation” for the Government.
