It is working! Join us in putting pressure on the government to make our solidarity with Ukrainians count

The Independent’s Refugees Welcome petition has reached 250,000 signatures

Our Refugees Welcome campaign has mobilised to help express the British people’s sense of solidarity with the Ukrainians in their fight for the right to self-determination (AFP via Getty)

People power can make a difference. The outpouring of sympathy for the Ukrainian people has pushed the British government to act – too slowly, but gradually in the right direction. Our Refugees Welcome campaign, revived seven years ago during the Syrian crisis, has mobilised once again to help express the British people’s sense of practical solidarity with the Ukrainians in their fight for the right to self-determination.

Now that our petition calling on the government to go further and faster to support refugees has reached a quarter of a million signatures, we are asking our readers to keep up their efforts on behalf of the Ukrainian people.

The resistance of Ukraine’s armed forces has been inspiring. But their success in repelling the first wave of Vladimir Putin’s invasion may be only the first stage of a long and difficult war. Every setback endured by Mr Putin’s forces on the battlefield, however welcome, only increases the chances that Russian forces will intensify their attacks on civilian populations.

So far, the UK government has led the way in supplying the Ukrainians with the defensive weapons they need – a record of which we can be proud. But the Ukrainian people need practical solidarity on the civilian front as well, in the form of protection for the millions displaced by the horrors of war.

Here, Boris Johnson has lagged behind the generosity of the British people, appearing to be happy to allow other countries – Poland, in particular – to play the leading role. On Thursday, as the prime minister set out his unworkable and cruel plan to send some non-Ukrainian refugees to Rwanda, he boasted that his government had “continued the great British tradition of providing sanctuary to those in need”, including to “around 50,000 Ukrainians”.

Let us file that 50,000 figure as a target to be met and exceeded in short order, because the government’s own statistics suggest that only 12,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war had arrived in the UK as of the previous week. And only 1,200 of those had come as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which was set up to match refugees with volunteer hosts. Meanwhile, Ireland, with a population one-tenth that of the UK, has already taken in nearly twice as many refugees from the war in Ukraine.

The Homes for Ukraine scheme has been obstructed by bureaucracy, as the government appears to want to hold back the generosity of the British people and in effect privatise the management of refugees, instead of providing the leadership that is needed.

However, as a young, compassionate and optimistic news organisation, The Independent is determined to focus on the positive side of the story, and to celebrate the pressure brought to bear on the government by active and concerned citizens across the country.

We hope that the first 250,000 signatures on our petition will spur the government to further action, and encourage people to do more to offer practical expressions of support to the Ukrainian people in their long hour of need.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.