Dozens of MPs call on Starmer to 'urgently' establish Ukraine-style visa for Gazans

Dozens of MPs have called on Sir Keir Starmer to "urgently" establish a Ukraine-style visa to allow Gazans with family in the UK to come to Britain.

In a letter seen exclusively by Sky News, the 67 MPs and Lords from across the political spectrum, have asked the prime minister and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to create a "Gaza Family Scheme" to "reunite [Palestinians] with their loved ones in the UK until it is safe to return". "Just as the UK opened its doors to those fleeing persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong, we believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families," the letter says.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the UK opened up the Ukraine Family Scheme allowing Ukrainian nationals to join family members in the UK and live, work and study in the UK for up to three years. Applications closed in February 2024.

Two years before, the UK opened the British National (Overseas) visa to allow Hong Kongers fleeing after a strict national security law was imposed by China to live in the UK for five years then apply for British citizenship. The letter, sent to the PM on Sunday evening, has been signed by 35 Labour MPs and House of Lords members, including Marsha de Cordova, Clive Lewis, Stella Creasy, Richard Burgon, Kim Johnson, Afzal Khan, Rachael Maskell, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Andy Slaughter and Alex Sobel.

Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are among a handful of former Labour MPs suspended from the party last year to sign the letter, as are all four Green MPs, Lib Dem MPs Tim Farron and Layla Moran, several Northern Ireland MPs and SNP MPs Graham Leadbitter and Brendan O'Hara. The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehquani, has also signed the letter.

Only one Conservative, former special adviser to William Hague, Baroness Helic, signed it. In the letter, the politicians express their "grave concern at the immense suffering inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza".

They accuse Israel of "shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement.