Dom Joly blasts government over 'disgusting' handling of Ukrainian refugees
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Watch: Dom Joly lets rip on Question Time over Ukraine refugee situation
Dom Joly has hit out at the government’s “disgusting” handling of Ukrainian refugees.
The comedian let rip on Question Time, criticising the red tape surrounding visas.
He also spoke about differences in the way Ukrainian refugees and those fleeing Syrian and Afghanistan are treated.
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Joly – an ambassador for Save The Children – weighed in when a member of the audience suggested all refugees were not treated equally and asked why he was able to sponsor those from Ukraine but not others.
“Firstly, this government seems to… well, its supporters mainly, had a very anti-refugee, anti-immigrant feeling and so I think they feed off that, they think that’s the way to go,” said the star.
“And suddenly they have been incredibly confused by the fact that people seem to be incredibly sympathetic towards Ukrainian refugees and I cannot, for the life of me, see what the difference is between Ukrainian refugees and Syrians and Afghans.
“Well, actually, I can and I think that is one of the reasons, for instance, that there were no visa offices set up at Calais, because they did not want the wrong sort of refugee or immigrant turning up.”
“There was this ridiculous excuse that somehow some of these people might be spies… that doesn’t seem to affect any other country.”
Comedian @domjoly says the Government’s handling of Ukrainian refugees is “disgusting. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/8J0NE2gfZY— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) March 24, 2022
Joly, 54, also talked about how refugees from Ukraine applying for visas faced a “ludicrous amount of complications”.
“Why are we the only country asking people to have visas?” he asked.
“There was this ridiculous excuse that somehow some of these people might be spies or they might be secret agents coming to do that.
“Well, that does not seem to affect any other country, so why are we so special?”
“I think it is disgusting the way we treat it, I really do,” he added.
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Security minister Damian Hinds was on the panel and said in response: “What I can tell you is that on the family scheme we know that many thousands, the visas have been issued, we know that many families in this country have expressed an interest in joining the community resettlement scheme.”
He said thousands of applications were being processed every day.
Watch: Life must go on in Lviv as Ukraine war enters second month
