By Lincolnshire MP praises Priti Patel for refusing to offer asylum to all refugees
A senior tory MP has praised Home Secretary Priti Patel for her refusal to accept all refugees currently fleeing the invasion of Ukraine.
Lincolnshire MP Sir Edward Leigh said that his Lincolnshire constituents had already “done our bit in terms of migration from eastern Europe”.
Yesterday the Home Office announed that immigration rules would be relaxed even further meaning oughly 200,000 more refugees from Ukraine could be welcomes into the country.
UK businesses and citizens would also be offered the chance to sponser a Ukranian to bring them over to the UK.
Priti Patel announced the rules in the commons yesterday, but she stopped short of waving the rules entirely citing security concerns.
In response to her announcement, Leigh, the MP for Gainsborough, said: “Everybody wants to be humanitarian and she’s under pressure to have a visa-free scheme like the rest of Europe, but may I actually congratulate her on her proportionate response.
“I think we have to remember that, unlike the rest of Europe, we have uniquely liberal labour laws and we speak English, so we are the country of choice for mass immigration.
“And therefore I do urge her to, as well as listen to all the humanitarian voices, to listen to the voices of people in Lincolnshire, who feel we’ve done our bit in terms of migration from eastern Europe. We’re under extreme pressure in terms of housing and jobs.
“I know this is difficult to say, but we have to be honest about this. And therefore may I be a correcting voice on this and congratulate her on her humanitarian but proportionate response and not throwing away the immigration rulebook.”
Other tory MPs including former leader William Hague have urged the Home Office to remove the exisiting visa rules for Ukranian refugees.
Fellow conservatives George Osborne and Rory Stuart echoed his calls.
Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain said: “We are behind other nations on this. Now is not the time to say we have done our bit – pretty outrageous from Sir Edward Leigh.”
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