The Tories are still the Nasty Party – look at how they’re treating Ukrainian refugees

I feel ashamed to be British when I hear that our government has so far granted only a miserly 300 visas to people fleeing from war-torn Ukraine, when other nations are showing enormous generosity and opening their doors to tens of thousands.

Back in 2002, Theresa May famously said that the Tory party was viewed as the “Nasty Party” and right now, it really doesn’t seem as if much has changed.

To be so unwelcoming to these desperate evacuees who are literally fleeing for their lives is a disgrace.  Surely our country is better than this?

Rosemary Macri

Clanfield, Hampshire

There appears to be something of a staffing problem in the Home Office, certainly insofar as processing refugees is concerned.

If this is so, perhaps Priti Patel could have a word with Jacob Rees-Mogg. I seem to recall only quite recently he was in the process of getting rid of 64,000 civil servants. I can’t think they will all have gone.

Ian Wingfield

Bamford, Derbyshire

Once again this Tory government is trashing Britain’s reputation in the world, this time with its mean-spirited and incompetent handling of the Ukrainian refugee crisis.

As Yvette Cooper has pointed out, they claim to be leading and world-beating, while we are shamed by smaller poorer countries with their generosity and swift response in coping with a vast influx of refugees.

As with Windrush, Brexit and so many other issues it is Patel’s alarmingly incompetent Home Office and Johnson’s mendacious boosterism that sit at the heart of this mess.

We cannot vote this government out yet, but an element of regime change with some more balanced Tory politicians at the helm would certainly help.

Gavin Turner

Gunton, Norfolk

Twice in the 20th century we British were called upon to stand by two European countries, Belgium and Poland, who were being threatened by a larger bullying nation. On both occasions and notwithstanding the willingness of the bully to do violence to ourselves, we answered the call.

Now, we are being called to play a different role in another European war by shielding and giving sanctuary to Ukrainian people.

I do not understand why Mr Johnson and Ms Patel cannot wholeheartedly join with our European friends and allies in the policy of help they have agreed. I do not believe our home secretary has the mindset to deal with this crisis. Their lack of action shames us all.

Sometimes it is necessary to just do the right thing as a matter of principle and, as in 1914 and 1939, worry about the consequences later. Come on, Ms Patel, step up to the plate and do the right thing.

Mike Crean

Hereford

What does it say about our political system that it takes the deaths and injuries of hundreds, and the misery of millions, in Ukraine to ensure that our deeply dishonest and disreputable prime minister can maintain his tenuous grip on power?

What does it say about prospective Tory voters that the Conservative Party hierarchy is clearly convinced that their grip on power depends so heavily on fostering a fear of, and hostility towards, foreigners?

What does it say about the rest of us that we have allowed this utterly shameful situation to come about?

D Maughan Brown

York

I read Jenny Eclair’s column with more than a nod of agreement. This war in Europe seems fantastical and so removed from our grateful, lived experience. She is right too that many of us believed that the worst would not happen, Putin was simply playing war games on the Ukrainian border and the strong winds of condemnation would make him see sense.

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Like her, I feel aggrieved that after two long years of living with Covid, the world deserved a breathing space of normality and enjoyment as people came out of hibernation and we could all exhale gratefully.

But no. As we look on with horror at the unfolding daily nightmare pictures of men, women and children fleeing for their lives, there is a real sense of depression and angst. We – and the government – should do all we can to alleviate the intolerable burden foisted on the Ukrainian people at this time of crisis.

Judith A Daniels

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

There are many shocking analogies to be made between the current Ukrainian-Russian war and the world of the late 1930s.

One of the most outrageous is the comparison between Britain’s treatment of Jewish refugees in the 1930s and the current government’s attitude to Ukrainians fleeing the war. Jews trying to come to Britain had to have sponsors and were closely vetted; preference was given to those with skills, who would add something to Britain’s national product.

Thousands were denied a visa and ended up victims of Hitler’s genocide. Are we going to repeat this history, or open our borders as the countries of eastern Europe are generously doing?

At the moment, the prime minister is going to be remembered as a second Chamberlain rather than a shadow Churchill.

Professor Richard Overy

Ashford