Keir Starmer has said it is the “wrong decision” that a family from Gaza were allowed to come to the UK under a scheme intended for Ukrainians.
This week, a UK judge ruled that a Palestinian family of six should be able to move to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
This was an initiative set up in March 2022 to allow Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia to move to the UK if they had a relative who was a British citizen or had settled status.
Although the scheme ended last year, upper tribunal judge Hugo Norton-Taylor decided a Palestinian family of six had the right to come to the UK under the scheme.
The case had been contested by the Home Office.
During PMQs on Wednesday, the Prime Minister was challenged on the case by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. She said the decision was “completely wrong and cannot be allowed to stand,” before asking if the government would be appealing.
Responding, Starmer said he agreed it was the “wrong decision” but accused the leader of the opposition of not ‘doing her homework,’ because the decision had been “taken under the last government.”
He continued: “Let me be clear, it should be parliament that makes the rules on immigration, it should be the government that makes the policy, that is the principle and the home secretary is already looking at the legal loophole which we need to close in this particular case.”
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