Army on standby to help Ukraine refugees but Govt 'hasn't bothered', says Lisa Nandy

10 March 2022, 18:41 | Updated: 10 March 2022, 19:18

Andrew Marr hears from Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy

Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy has told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr the armed forces "stand ready and willing to help" with the Ukraine refugee crisis but the Government "hasn't bothered" to take them up on their offer.

The former shadow foreign secretary hit out at the Government's response to the refugee crisis in Ukraine, saying it is "still not enough".

Ms Nandy told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr more routes need to be opened to allow people into the UK.

Watch Tonight with Andrew Marr exclusively on Global Player every Monday to Thursday from 6pm to 7pm https://www.globalplayer.com/live/lbc/uk/

"The armed forces stands ready and willing to help but the Government hasn't even bothered to take them up on that offer," she said.

She told Andrew there are "lots of children on the move", and we must act with "urgency".

"This is exactly the sort of scenario where you see children being trafficked," she added.

You can also listen to the podcast Tonight with Andrew Marr only on Global Player.

It comes after Home Secretary Priti Patel announced a new streamlined online visa application system for refugees after coming under sustained criticism for the slow processing of visas.

Some 2 million Ukrainians are thought to have fled the Russian invasion, most escaping to Poland.

But it was announced on Wednesday just 957 applications had resulted in granted visas so far, with the Home Office processing more than 20,000.

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