Grant Shapps has admitted that a Ukrainian family he plans to take into his home have still not arrived because of the Home Office’s visa rules for refugees fleeing the war.
The transport secretary has agreed to provide a home for a woman, her 75-year-old mother, her six-year-old son and their dog, Max.
But because the woman does not have the correct documentation, she needs a visa before being allowed into the country.
The government has faced criticism for not waiving the visa requirements, as many other countries have done.
On Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News, Shapps said he hoped the family would finally arrive “in the next week or so”.
“We are looking forward to welcoming them here,” he said. “They’ve been getting ready to leave and we are excited to have them in our home.
“They fled out of Kyiv, and are in Krakow at the moment in Poland. The mum has a national passport, it’s like an ID card, not a full international passport, and she has had to visit a visa office, whereas the others are able to travel without having travelled to a visa office.”
Shapps defended the lengthy process, which he said was necessary to stop Vladimir Putin sending Russian agents into the UK by pretending to be Ukrainian refugees.
He said: ”[The family] are very understanding, but you do need to know who is coming to the country and it’s not beyond Putin and his cronies to deceive Brits by sending people to live with them in the UK who may have the wrong motivations.
“But it does look to me like it’s coming to the end of the process and they are looking at booking within the next week or so to join us and the whole family are excited. It will be a bit of a squeeze but we are all delighted to do a small thing here.”
Meanwhile, Shapps said “the world cannot just look the other way” as images of atrocities committed by Russian troops emerged from previously occupied Ukrainian towns.
There were multiple reports of men, women and children being tied up and murdered by retreating Russian troops, while images showed bombed out and destroyed civilian areas.
Shapps said: “I think it’s actually a terrible wake up call for the world, both in terms of what Putin has done but also with the supply of energy to the west, which is largely funding this war effort. It’s horrendous, our hearts go out to everybody involved.”