LBC presenter James O’Brien has hit out at home secretary Priti Patel after she posted a video on Ukrainian refugees.
It comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused two million people to flee their country, with neighbouring countries such as Poland receiving over one million and the UK putting Ukrainian refugees through a visa process – granting only 300 so far.
O’Brien criticised the government’s response to the refugee crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pointing out what the UK is doing compared to its neighbours, Ireland and other European countries.
‘There’s always music with propaganda’
He said: “Five million people in Ireland – they’ve already taken 1,250 refugees. They’ve waived all visa requirements.
“If you’re Ukrainian and you are stateless at the moment, homeless at the moment, you can settle in any other country in Europe, except this one, as far as I understand.”
He added: “The bleat various nonsense about Schengen and geographical proximity, which is why I keep mentioning Ireland, which is even further away from Ukraine than we are.
“I don’t know who that is designed to appeal to, I don’t know who that’s designed to persuade. I don’t know who came up with the idea of playing music in the background but I kind of knew someone would have done.
“There’s always music with propaganda. They go together like a horse and carriage.
“Priti Patel tries to give you the impression that we’re moving heaven and earth to help Ukrainian refugees when we’re doing less than any other country in Europe.”
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Meanwhile, the EU decided to allow Ukrainian refugees to live and work in the European Union for three years, whilst many are being turned around in France for not having the documents required by the UK government.
O’Brien’s comments were directed at Patel’s recent video, in which she insisted the UK is helping Ukrainians “with links to the UK” over background music.
Priti Patel insists the government is helping ‘Ukrainians with links to UK’
She said: “The British people have come together remarkably to really stand with Ukraine, to help everyone that’s in a terrible situation fleeing Ukraine right now.
“I’m here at the Ukrainian embassy in London and I’ve just spent some time this afternoon with the Ukrainian Ambassador. But with the community, very much seeing their remarkable efforts when it comes to donations and how they are supporting people fleeing Ukraine in this terrible time of desperate desperate need.
She insisted she has been “listening in terms of the practical ways in which we can support” and “how we can help to get more people over to the United Kingdom”.
She added: “This is a really important scheme, We want to make sure we can help everyone that has links to the UK while at the same time supporting people in the region.”
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But O’Brien asked if Patel’s claims are “designed to appeal to the same people” that Jacob Rees-Mogg’s recent graph “is designed to appeal to”.
Mogg, who is the new Brexit Opportunities minister posted an image last week in which he compares how much more Russian money London has confiscated than the EU and the US.
The presenter said Mogg’s post fails to notice that “the fact that there were so many assets here to sanction compared to for example, the European Union, is a matter of national shame”.
Related: From ‘Kindertransport’ to ‘Ukrainetransport’: Lessons from saving children from Nazis
