A REFUGEE charity and Civil Service union are calling for a Ukraine visa-style scheme to be rolled out for other asylum-seekers as a “humane alternative” to the Tories’ Rwanda policy. 

The proposal, set out in a policy paper launched in Parliament today, is to create a “safe passage visa” allowing refugees to cross the English Channel without risking their lives beforing applying for asylum in Britain. 

Care4Calais and the PCS union say that their plan offers an alternative solution to the “dangerous and uncontrolled situation” in the Channel, moving away from the government’s “morally reprehensible” treatment of asylum-seekers. 

Launching the 12-page paper in the House of Lords today, PCS head of bargaining Paul O’Connor said it was wrong of the government to claim that critics of its asylum policies offer no alternative. 

“That’s completely disingenuous. Our members in the Home Office have told them consistently that safe passage is the solution,” he said. 

“We think that, fundamentally, the approach has to change away from hostility to one based on humanity.”

The proposals, which enjoy the support of Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs and MP Olivia Blake, have been tabled as an alternative to the government’s Rwanda deportation scheme.

“The government claimed its Rwanda policy would deter people from crossing the Channel,” Mr O’Connor added. “It has failed miserably, with record numbers making the dangerous journey.

“The government’s entire approach to Channel crossings has been morally reprehensible and utterly inhumane, displaying a total disregard for refugees and our members.”

Welcoming the initiative, Lord Dubs said: “We have to find better ways of dealing with the situation than expressing hostility and taking the people who’ve arrived in boats to intolerable conditions.” 

Under the proposal, only applicants with a “viable” asylum claim, as determined through an online screening process, would be able to obtain the visa, the paper says. Their case would then be assessed in Britain. 

Noting that a similar visa system was set up for Ukrainian refugees earlier this year, the paper says that, since then, there have been no reports of Ukrainian nationals crossing the Channel. 

Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley said: “We know it’s possible to give refugees safe passage because we did it for Ukrainians. If we did it for Ukrainians, why not for others?”