The Home Office has sparked anger after announcing it will set up a “pop-up” visa application centre for Ukrainian refugees in Lille – around 70 miles from Calais.

The location of the site was first revealed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, before being confirmed by Downing Street.

Labour’s Diane Abbott condemned what she described as “the cruel and chaotic way that desperate Ukrainian refugees” were being treated by Home Secretary Priti Patel‘s department.

“It cannot be right that there is no visa application centre in Calais and Ukrainian refugees who travel thousands of miles to Calais are being redirected to either Paris or Brussels,” she said.

“Does the foreign secretary agree that this brings the UK into disrepute?”

Ms Truss replied: “The Home Office have placed staff in Poland and Hungary to help people, they have also… the home secretary has announced a new pop-up application site in Lille.

“I can tell her that the Home Office has set up a surgery for MPs in Portcullis House which I am sure she will be very welcome to take any cases she has to.”

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It follows criticism of the UK’s refusal to offer visa-free refuge to Ukrainian people fleeing Russia‘s invasion.

The Home Office earlier said 8,900 applications for refugees to come to the UK via the Ukraine Family Scheme had been submitted since Friday – but that only 300 visas had been issued.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “That’s shockingly low and painfully slow. Just 250 since yesterday.

“At this rate it would be weeks before many families reunite. Urgent action needed.”

A petition calling on the government to allow anyone with a Ukrainian passport take refuge in the UK had been signed by more than 143,000 people at the time of writing.

“Join other nations in providing a route to safety for refugees. Waive all visa requirements for Ukrainian passport holders arriving in the UK,” it says.

“They are war refugees, our hands are tied to assist with boots on the ground, let us give the people of Ukraine a safe place for their families and children to flee to.”

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