Sir, — All over the UK ordinary people are rallying to support the people of Ukraine. They have already donated over £150 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal and there are many local initiatives.
In Aberdeen, donations are stacked up at Craigievar House, and sorted with the help of local volunteers. More than £16,000 has been raised to buy essentials and help pay for transport costs to the Poland-Ukraine border.
Aberdeenshire’s Syrian new Scots community has shown solidarity with Ukrainian refugees by collecting donations in Inverurie. Communities are also getting ready to welcome refugees via the government’s new Community Sponsorship Scheme.
This is, however, only one part of the solution.
Thousands of Ukrainians are waiting for permission to reunite with relatives in the UK, although most other countries have completely waived the need for visas.
We have seen Ukrainian families jump through impossible hoops and travel across countries to find out if they will be able to join their loved ones. This has shown us that the UK’s family reunion rules are broken. They do not work for those forced to flee their homes in times of crisis.
At the same time, the government continues to push ahead with its Nationality and Borders Bill, which will criminalise Ukrainians, Afghans and others who may be forced to arrive here without documentation.
Currently, most unaccompanied child refugees are not allowed to join their families in the UK. This Bill offers no new safe route to help these children and will only make family reunions more difficult.
Our MPs have the chance to change this. Lord Alf Dubs — who was himself given sanctuary here from Nazi Germany via the Kindertransport — has proposed an amendment to the Bill permitting child refugees currently in Europe to reunite with family here.
The cruel anti-refugee Bill does not meet the mood of our times.
Huge changes have been made to it as it passed through the Lords. Our MPs must accept all of the Lords’ amendments in full when it returns to the Commons in the next few weeks.
D Kitching, Birsemohr Crescent, Aboyne.
Single hosts must not lose out
Sir, — People living in single occupancy homes ie widows/widowers etc should be aware that, as it stands at the moment, they will have to repay their 25% reduction in council tax if they take in a Ukraine refugee.
In some cases, this will mean that almost the first two months of the “£350 non-taxable” government donation goes straight back to the authorities in council tax.
These homeowners are among those who have rooms available for this very well-intentioned scheme and will probably already have registered an interest.
I suspect that this is an unfortunate side effect that has not been thought through in the haste to get it implemented and could very easily be put right by a government instruction to councils.
Alasdair Campbell, Ellon.
Jobs threatened by SNP windfall tax
Sir, — Andrew Dykes’ article “SNP leads calls for broad windfall tax on ‘excess profits’’’ makes me wonder (not for the first time) how a career politician like Stephen Flynn can ever be taken seriously in his role as SNP business, energy and industry spokesperson with no experience whatsoever in business or industry.
His constituents in Aberdeen South are probably wondering the same thing, as their jobs are threatened by his call for a windfall tax on their employers.
Neville Taylor, Inchgarth Road, Aberdeen.