UK politics live: Priti Patel sets out new visa scheme for Ukrainians to include wider family

At the Downing Street lobby brieing the prime minister’s spokesman confirmed that the government is going to expand its family visa scheme for Ukrainians wanting to flee the war by coming to the UK.

On Sunday the government announced some changes to the rules, and Priti Patel, the home secretry, said that those would lead to an extra 100,000 Ukrainians becoming eligible.

But they were criticised because the Home Office applied a very tight definition of immediate family in the rules allowing Ukrainians with relatives in the UK to come to the country. The visas, which are available free under this scheme, were only available to relatives who were spouses, unmarried partners of at least two years, parents or children of the person in Briton (provided the child was under 19), or adult relatives who were also carers.

Downing Street says this definition is now being extended, and that it will now cover Ukrainian relatives who are adult parents, grandparents, adult children or siblings of people settled in the UK.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, will give more details in her Commons statement later.

The rule change explains why Boris Johnson was earlier talking about an extra 200,000 Ukrainians being eligible to come to the UK under the revised rules, and not 100,000 (the figure given yesterday).

Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, said she was glad the Home Office had changed its scheme in response to complaints from the opposition.

But she says she had concerns about how the new scheme would operate.

She said the Ukrainian woman she referred to in the Commons yesterday, and who Priti Patel said was now in the UK, had to pay around £700 for a visa. Will that be refunded?

She asked if step-children would be included.

She asked if sponsoring family members in the UK would have to be British nationals, or have indefinite leave to remain.

She said she was concerned the community route would take a long time. Has the government considered a humanitarian visa?

She said the existing community sponsorship scheme for a refugee has only helped around 100 people a year over the last five years. It is very slow, she said.

And Cooper said this was not a resettlement scheme; the people coming to the UK would not get government support.

And she asked how Patel calculated the 200,000 arrivals figure. Cooper said she could not work out how that figure was obtained.

Patel says MPs are united in their horror at what is happening in Ukraine. She says Vladimir Putin must fail.

The UK is “standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine”, she says.

She summarises some of the sanction measures being taken against Russia.

She says yesterday she announced the first phase of a bespoke humanitarian support package for Ukrainians fleeing their country.

She refers to a case raised by Yvette Cooper yesterday, and she says that person has now been able to come to the UK.

She says the government has created additional capacity for dealing with visa applications.

She says the usual language requirement and salary threshold have been removed for Ukrainians coming to the UK to join family members. And the usual 12-month time limit will be waived, she says.

She says an additional 100,000 Ukrainians will be able to come to the UK as a result of these changes.

Visas for Ukrainians already in the UK are being extended, she says.

She says some opposition MPs want visa rules to be waived. But there are security concerns about this, she says. Extremists are on the ground, she says.

She offers to give the opposition a security briefing, but she says she is “sceptical” about how they treat security advice.

Biometric visa requirements should not be suspended, she says.

She says, as outlined by the PM earlier today, phase two of the support package can be announced. She says the definition of close family member is being extended.

And she says a route is being opened up for Ukrainians who do not have close family members in the UK, but who can get sponsorship from a firm or individual.

People will be able to volunteer to sponsor a Ukrainian. They will be matched by people in need.

She says there will be no limit on the numbers who can apply through this scheme.

This is a “very generous” and unprecedented offer, she says.

She says it means the British public will be able to support displaced Ukrainians.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, is making her Commons statement now about the new visa rules for Ukrainians coming to the UK.

Our story about the changes is here.

Boris Johnson did not fully announce the new visa rules for Ukrainians at his press conference in Warsaw earlier, but he referred to them when he said that 200,000 Ukrainians could benefit. (See 11.01am.)

In his answer, he also said that British businesses and individuals would be able to sponsor Ukrainians coming to the UK. He said:

We have always had a tradition of welcoming people in large numbers from crisis areas, from from war zones.

So what we’re going to do is we’re extending the family scheme, so that actually very considerable numbers would be eligible, as I set out earlier. You could be talking about 200,000, maybe more.

Additionally we’re going to have a humanitarian scheme, and then a scheme by which UK companies and citizens can sponsor individual Ukrainians to come to the UK. So we’re doing exactly what the UNHCR is asking us to do and we will be in the forefront of helping the humanitarian crisis.

In his response to Daria Kaleniuk at his press conference in Warsaw (see 12.31pm) Boris Johnson repeated his argument that imposing a no-fly zone would lead to Nato being at war with Russia. But he also said the conflict would lead to a rethink about European security. He said:

This whole misadventure by Vladimir Putin has raised questions about the security of Europe and what we do. I think it was entirely reasonable of Volodymyr Zelenskiy to ask for EU membership and I think that Nato will have to think much more about some of the ways in which we think about European security in the future, because if Putin can attack Ukraine in a way that is unprovoked, a completely innocent country, then that has big implications for the world, and for the security of other countries as well.

The Ukrainian woman who criticised Boris Johnson at his press conference in Warsaw over the timidity of the west’s response to Russia was Daria Kaleniuk, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre civil society organisation. Here is an edited version of her question, which was in reality a speech, and an indictment of what the UK and other western countries have been doing. She said:

I passed the border a couple of days ago, I’m from Kyiv. Most of my family, most of my team members, are still in Ukraine … A woman from my team is now in [unclear] and she is there with two kids and [the] Russian military is over there, and she is so much afraid that she will be shot.

Kharkiv, the city where I was studying, was bombarded today, fully, the downtown square. So you are talking about the stoicism of Ukrainian people, But Ukrainian women and Ukrainian children are in deep fear because of bombs and missiles which are going from the sky.

And Ukrainian people are desperately asking for the west to protect our sky. We are asking for the no-fly zone. You are saying in response that it will trigger world war three. But what is the alternative, Mr Prime Minister? …

We have planes here, we have [an] air defence system in Poland, in Romania. Nato has this air defence; at least this air defence would shield western Ukraine, so these children, with women, could come to the border.

It’s impossible now to cross the border. There are 30 kilometres of mines. Imagine crossing the border with a baby, or with two children …

You’re coming to Poland. You are not coming to Kyiv, you are not coming to Lviv, because you are afraid, because Nato is not willing to defend, because Nato is afraid of world war three, but it is already starting, and Ukrainian children who are there are taking the hit.

You’re talking about more sanctions, prime minister. But Roman Abramovich is not sanctioned … His children are not in the bombardments. His children are there in London. Putin’s children are in the Netherlands, in Germany, in mansions. Where are all these mansions [being] seized? I don’t see that.

I see my family members, my team members, are saying that we are crying, we don’t know where to run. This is what is happening, prime minister.

At the Downing Street lobby brieing the prime minister’s spokesman confirmed that the government is going to expand its family visa scheme for Ukrainians wanting to flee the war by coming to the UK.

On Sunday the government announced some changes to the rules, and Priti Patel, the home secretry, said that those would lead to an extra 100,000 Ukrainians becoming eligible.

But they were criticised because the Home Office applied a very tight definition of immediate family in the rules allowing Ukrainians with relatives in the UK to come to the country. The visas, which are available free under this scheme, were only available to relatives who were spouses, unmarried partners of at least two years, parents or children of the person in Briton (provided the child was under 19), or adult relatives who were also carers.

Downing Street says this definition is now being extended, and that it will now cover Ukrainian relatives who are adult parents, grandparents, adult children or siblings of people settled in the UK.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, will give more details in her Commons statement later.

The rule change explains why Boris Johnson was earlier talking about an extra 200,000 Ukrainians being eligible to come to the UK under the revised rules, and not 100,000 (the figure given yesterday).

There are two statements in the Commons today. At 12.30pm Rachel Maclean, the safeguarding minister, will make a statement about HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. And at around 1.30pm Priti Patel, the home secetary, will make a statement about Ukraine.

Here is the clip of the Ukrainian activist, Daria Kaleniuk, confronting Boris Johnson at his press conference in Warsaw earlier over the timidity of the west’s response to Russia.

According to Sky’s Kate McCann, Boris Johnson’s reference to the UK admitting 200,000 Ukrainians (after Priti Patel yesterday put the figure at 100,000) means the eligibility criteria are going to be widened.

Johnson takes a question from an activist from Ukraine.

Q: Ukrainian people are taking shelter underground. How can you protect them without a no-fly zone? You are not coming to Ukraine, because you are at risk there. But people in Ukraine are at risk. Imagine crossing the border with a baby. And you say you are imposing sanctions. But Roman Abramovich has not been sanctioned yet.

It is more of a speech, than a question, and it is a very moving one too. Towards the end the activist sounded close to tears.

Johnson thanks the activist for her question. He admits that the government cannot do enough. He says if the UK were to impose a no-fly zone, that would lead to direct combat with Russia. The consequences would be very hard to control, he says.

He defends the UK’s record, saying that it was the first European country to offer Ukraine military support.

He says Putin is doomed to fail.

He says it would be wrong to think the UK can fix this by military means.

He says this will lead to a reassessment of the way security is provided in Europe. The attack on Ukraine has “big implications” for security, he says.

He says Ukraine is attracting sympathy and international support around the world. He says that will lead to Putin losing, but he accepts that it may take time.

He ends by again thanking the questioner for sharing her experiences.

UPDATE: I have corrected the post above because the questioner was not a journalist but Daria Kaleniuk, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, a civil society organisation.

Q: You say Putin must fail. But what does that mean? How much of a financial hit will people in Britain face? And, as a father, what do you feel looking at pictures of children being killed?

Johnson says Putin is a father too. He says no one can understand why he has unleashed this conflict. He won’t succeed. He says he fears, though, that Putin will “double down on violence”.

I think I felt what everybody in the world felt looking at that, that this is absolutely senseless.

I think Vladimir Putin is father himself, and no one can possibly understand how he has unleashed this conflict which seems to everybody to be so futile. Everybody can see that the Ukrainians are resisting.

Johnson ignores the first two questions.

Johnson says sanctions could go further. There is more to be done on the Swift payments system, on Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, on freezing assets, and on cutting sporting links with Russia.

There is plainly more to be done on Swift, we can tighten up yet further on Swift, even though it has had a dramatic effect already I think we do need to go further. There’s more to be done on Sberbank, there’s more to be done on the freezing of Russian assets. I think there’s genuine amazement and dismay in Russia about what has happened already but there is more to be done.