Ukrainian Refugees

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:28 pm on 23 March 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 3:28, 23 March 2022

Thank you very much for that very topical question, Alun Davies. The First Minister has reported in past weeks that, when he wrote to the Prime Minister at the end of February, making sure that we were offering to play our part in terms of being a nation of sanctuary and being very clear about our position in terms of Putin's aggression, he did actually take the opportunity, in his correspondence, to emphasise that the Welsh Government believed that the UK Government should reconsider the proposals in the Nationality and Borders Bill, which we believe creates a two-tier system between asylum seekers depending on their route of entering into the UK. We quite clearly made that point to the Prime Minister. So, we have to recognise the point that Alun Davies makes today. It was, in fact, the UK shadow Home Secretary who said yesterday in the debate that the Nationality and Borders Bill will make it a criminal offence, as you say, for Ukrainian families to arrive in the UK without the right papers, with a penalty of up to four years in prison, at a time when the British people have made it clear that we need to help Ukrainian refugees. This is deeply shameful—those were her words. But we here in Wales, as a nation of sanctuary, want to provide a quick, safe and warm welcome to Ukrainians in Wales. I do believe that our supersponsor route, which we're working on alongside our Scottish colleagues, will eliminate a key bottleneck in the UK system. That's crucial to ensure that those coming to Wales don't need to already know a household in Wales who can sponsor them.