This email will be sent in the coming days to everyone who has written to me about Ukraine.
I am grateful for all my correspondence as it helps me understand what my constituents think, and often gives me new information or ideas. I hope you will understand why I cannot give a personal reply to each one. In normal times I reply to around 800 emails a month; when something big blows up, there are simply not enough hours in the day to reply to all the additional ones that arrive. I hope what follows addresses the points that you raise.
Although there are some alternative views, almost all of the emails argue that the UK should be doing more to help the Ukrainian people, through military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine itself and support for the refugees who have got out. Many people have written with the offer of help, including accommodation, for refugees. Others expressed frustration with the apparent slowness of the economic sanctions we are imposing on Russia, its rulers and its oligarchs. Finally, people have written with suggestions for how to cope with the increase in prices engendered by the war. I will address these topics in turn.
Support for Ukraine
NATO has decided that it would not be right for the alliance to enter the war against Russia itself. But we can and must do everything short of this, including the supply of military equipment. I am proud that the UK was the first Western country to supply Ukraine with defensive kit in anticipation of a Russian attack, and that we continue to send large quantities of anti-tank and other weapons. In terms of humanitarian assistance, the UK is the largest bilateral aid donor to Ukraine.
Refugees
Where we have to do more, and more quickly, is ensuring that refugees who want to come to the UK can get here. I regret the many stories of delay and bureaucracy that we have heard about, and indeed I am in touch myself with a number of families fleeing Ukraine who have ties to Wiltshire, who are frustrated at the difficulties of getting here. I am deeply sorry where the British state has been slow, inflexible, or under-resourced. I do not accept that ‘this government’ or (‘your government’ as many people write to me, as if they have another one) is uniquely unfeeling or actively resistant to refugees. ‘This’ government has welcomed 20,000 Syrian refugees, 18,000 Afghans, and 100,000 Hong Kongers in recent years. The Prime Minister has said that an unlimited number of Ukrainian refugees can be accommodated, with the expectation in the order of 200,000 people at least. This is not the stance of an anti-refugee government.
The comparison is often made with other European countries which have already taken in many thousands of refugees. This is partly a consequence of proximity - Ukraine’s western neighbours have had no choice but to admit millions of people fleeing for their lives - and mostly because of the Schengen agreement by which most internal borders within the EU were dismantled. This means that refugees have been able to spread across the continent to stay with friends or family, or with strangers who have sought them out and brought them home (this clip was particularly inspiring I thought - evidence of how compassion can self-organise at scale).
We in the UK are just as generous - but we have a border, and this matters. We cannot and should not simply admit to this country anyone who wants to come here without any checks on who they are. The policy question is how to conduct these checks, and where. Many people have suggested we should admit people to the UK first and do the checks second. I am not sure this is practical, and whether an immigration centre in Britain is a better place to wait than a hotel in Warsaw.
Wherever the checks are done, they need to be done quickly - much more quickly than currently. I am pleased that after some painful delay we are now prepared to admit people with Ukrainian passports without the need for an appointment at one of the Visa Application Centres. I hope and expect that where appointments are still necessary, the VACs will be open round the clock, and have space and seating indoors if at all possible. The thought of old people queuing for days in sub-zero temperatures to see a British official is appalling.
Community Sponsorship
I have been hugely impressed by the outpouring of sympathy and the offers of support for Ukrainian refugees here in Wiltshire, and around the country. The Government is rapidly designing a new Humanitarian Sponsorship Pathway for people who do not have family ties to the UK, but who can be offered a temporary home and support by local communities here. This builds on the existing, successful but small-scale Community Sponsorship model for refugee support which was introduced in the last decade. I firmly believe that this is the right approach, rather than simply expecting local councils to take all responsibility for settling refugees. We expect the details of this scheme to be announced within days, and then I am sure that many Wiltshire communities will step forward to host Ukrainian families. Thank you to all those people who have written offering rooms or other support; your generosity will be called upon very soon.
Economic sanctions
A lot of people have written to me expressing outrage at the pace of action on economic sanctions. This is a complex picture. In some respects the UK has acted quicker than other countries - for instance on sanctioning banks - while in other respects, other countries (including the EU) have been quicker, for instance on sanctioning individuals. We have a strong tradition of the rule of law and property rights here. It’s why we are Europe’s financial centre. It takes time to build the legal case to target particular individuals for a freeze of their assets.
As with the refugee response, there may indeed have been some unnecessary delay, and (as I often say when the government acts slowly or incompetently) this is all further evidence of the need for a thorough reform of Whitehall. What I don’t accept is the implication - or outright accusation in many of the emails I’ve had - that there is deliberate corruption or collusion between British ministers and the war criminals of the Russian regime, or their cronies and enablers who have assets in the UK. There simply isn’t - despite some personal and professional acquaintances between politicians and wealthy Russians. We always have to police the line between politics and money (and personally I am more concerned about the penetration of British politics by British property developers than by Russians). I hope yesterday’s announcement of sanctions against a new tranche of oligarchs, and 386 members of the Russian Duma, will put paid to the idea we are too soft in our approach.
Cost of living
We are going to feel the effect of the war here at home, not just in the numbers of refugees we will host but in our pockets. Already the cost of living was rising sharply, as global demand recovered from Covid-19, putting upward pressure on material and energy costs worldwide. The phasing out of Russian oil and gas and the disruption to Ukrainian wheat exports will have direct impacts on food prices in particular (agriculture being a high-energy industry). The cost of heating our homes and powering our cars is climbing sharply. Industrial energy costs have risen 10 fold in some sectors.
The rise in gas and oil prices will have two effects. First, it will hasten the transition to cleaner sources of energy, as the security imperative adds to the environmental one. But second, it will make existing, safe sources of gas and oil more viable. I am supportive of both effects. I welcome the impending arrival of a fully renewable energy system for the UK, with a mix of wind, solar, tidal, geothermal and nuclear power. Meanwhile, to bridge the gap between now and then, we need to get more oil and gas out of the North Sea, and even out of the ground in the UK. The alternative is importing it from other, less clean suppliers abroad.
However effectively we create a clean resilient energy system for the future, and however cleverly we bridge the transition, we are going to experience sharp increases in the cost of living in the short term. I know the Chancellor of the Exchequer is extremely conscious of the impact of the crisis on people’s finances and will do all he can to cushion the impact. The Government has already reduced council tax for most people, awarded a repayable rebate on energy bills, supported people on Universal Credit by an extra £1000 a year, and increased the National Living Wage by around the same amount. But more may well be necessary as we face the inflation that is upon us.
I hope this helps answer most of the questions raised in the emails I have received. I will read all replies, but for the reasons given above, I regret I will probably not be able to take part in exchanges of correspondence in response to this letter.
With all good wishes
Danny
