It has been patently obvious from the outset that the UK Government hasn’t wanted to accept Ukrainian refugees into the country, but rather than being honest and upfront about its true intentions it has pursued a duplicitous policy of publicly welcoming those fleeing Putin’s slaughter while simultaneously erecting a plethora of unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to stop them actually arriving on British soil. There can be few acts more callous than offering sanctuary to terrified, exhausted and desperate women and children and then slamming the door in their faces when they are within reach of safety. But the Government’s continuing failure to provide the facilities, manpower and support necessary to ensure that the visas can be processed effectively can’t be explained solely in terms of Home Office incompetence and (although incompetence is clearly a factor) I suspect that more cynical forces are at work and that there is a deliberate policy of seeking to pacify public opinion by promising sanctuary and at the same time sabotaging the chances of those promises ever coming to fruition. I suspect that the cold reality is that Sunak simply doesn’t want to spend the money and Johnson doesn’t want to risk offending the hardcore anti-migrant lobby who helped vote him into office. The demand for ‘pre-entry visas’ is both unnecessary and contrary to how the rest of Europe has responded to such an overwhelming humanitarian crisis, and the ‘security’ concerns don’t stand up to serious scrutiny. Even if the KGB wanted to use the cover of women, children and old men to infiltrate agents into the UK (which seems unlikely as normal UK entry points are far less likely to arouse suspicion) any security vetting could easily take place once the refugees are on British soil. It is clear that the UK has softened its policy over the last couple of weeks in response to a public that doesn’t share its government’s callous indifference to human suffering but we still have some way to go before we match the humanitarian response of the rest of Europe. Gove’s latest ‘sponsorship’ scheme may be a step in the right direction but it stills seems to be overburdened with regulations, red-tape and vetting procedures that will seriously hinder the swift and effective implementation of the scheme. What makes the British Government’s actions even more shameful is the fact that (along with the USA and Russia) we were a signatory to the Budapest Memorandum (1994) which guaranteed that Ukraine’s sovereignty would be protected in return for it relinquishing its nuclear arsenal. We have repaid Ukraine’s trust by, not only reneging on our commitment to protect its sovereignty, but also by failing to welcome the women and children fleeing for their lives from the country we have betrayed. The salutary lesson for today is: Never give up your nuclear weapons and don’t trust the British Government to keep its word or honour its commitments. SEE ALSO: Here are five things in Sussex to do next week Have you read....: View pictures of the shocking state of potholed roads in Hastings and St Leonards Please send your letters to hastings.observer@jpimedia.co.uk. Letters must be accompanied by a full name and address. Anonymous letters are never printed. We reserve the right to edit letters for any reason. For the latest breaking news where you live in Sussex, follow us on Twitter @Sussex_World andlike us on Facebook @SussexWorldUK