As the Easter weekend approaches my focus has very much been on trying to get the numerous Ukrainian refugees, sponsored by families in this constituency, through the bureaucracy set up by the Home Office. The Homes for Ukraine scheme is good, there is no doubt about that, but it is not working.
I have been in touch with the Home Office every single day this week, usually several times, and the 48 hours to process a visa still has not materialised. If constituents are frustrated by it, let me assure them I am too, and it is not helped by standard Home Office replies which simply inform me that visas are in the system. The flip side is that some visas have been granted and Ukrainian families are arriving, and it has been heart warming to see the efforts being made to welcome them.
Of course I cannot escape commenting on the fixed penalty notices issued this week, which have provoked several hundred emails from constituents who are understandably angry. As I have said previously, by and large my constituents endeavoured to follow the rules, in order to prevent the spread of the virus as best they could. They feel bitterly disappointed that at the heart of Government the same efforts were not made. It is a matter of public record that I have long since submitted a letter of no confidence to the Chair of the 1922 Committee, war in Ukraine has not persuaded me to withdraw it.
