Tory MP says refugees she hosted became her ‘Ukrainian wife and daughter’
Dame Caroline Dinenage said she joined the Homes for Ukraine scheme because she could not ‘stand by and do nothing’.
Conservative former minister Dame Caroline Dinenage has told MPs about her “Ukrainian wife” and “Ukrainian daughter” as she revealed she has hosted a number of refugees for more than two years.
During a debate to mark the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Dame Caroline said she joined the Homes for Ukraine scheme because she couldn’t “stand by and do nothing”, and called on the Government to provide “certainty” for refugees now living in the UK.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the country in 2022, fleeing Ukrainians were offered visas which granted three years leave in the UK under programmes such as Homes for Ukraine, the Ukraine Extension Scheme and the Ukraine Family Scheme.
Dame Caroline said people in her constituency of Gosport care about Ukrainians because they have “skin in the game”.
“It’s an area with a very proud history of serving our armed forces, particularly the Royal Navy, and because, so typically of the generosity of spirit of Gosport people, so many Ukrainians quite literally made it their home,” she said.
“And at this point I have to declare an interest, because one of those homes was, and still is, mine.
“I saw the Russian tanks rolling into the Donbas and towards Kyiv, and I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, so my husband and I joined the Homes for Ukraine scheme.”
Dame Caroline hosted two women from Ukraine whom she now said she refers to as her “Ukrainian wife” and “Ukrainian daughter”, and who have been in the UK for nearly three years.
She said: “I call them family because they are now part of my family, have made lives for themselves here in this country, and they’ve become an asset to our community.”
She called on the Government to provide “certainty” and “security” to Ukrainian refugees.
“We hear a lot about planning for the war, but I want to know a little bit more about what the Government is doing to plan for the peace, and how we work towards a day when the many Ukrainians will be able to return to their home country,” she said.
“But what about those who are here under the scheme and have made their home here, who have made relationships here, who have jobs here, who are contributing to economies and the communities in which they live.
“Will they be able to stay indefinitely? I think that’s a question that people are now beginning to ask.”
Dame Caroline also paid tribute to the “incredible bravery” of the Ukrainian people.
She told MPs: “I don’t think anyone, least of all Vladimir Putin, actually, when he launched his illegal invasion three years ago, understood what he was taking on in the Ukrainian people.
“The spirit, the ingenuity, the incredible ability to innovate and to make the most of every single asset at their disposal to face up to a new form of warfare, where we’re not only facing the old school tanks and trenches and almost hand-to-hand combat, but at the same time the high tech, the drones, the digital, the modern equipment.
“It shows beyond any doubt, and it is a cautionary tale to others I think who are thinking of invading a sovereign nation, how far people will go, how hard they will fight, when they are fighting for their friends and when they’re fighting for their neighbours and they’re fighting for their families, and how desperately they will defend their homelands and their independence and their language and their identity.”
