FAILSWORTH and Ashton MP Angela Rayner has accused the Government of ‘not doing anywhere near enough’ to help Ukrainian refugees.

Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr on Tuesday, Labour’s deputy leader said: “The government has not done anywhere near enough to ensure that refugees can come to this country.”

She added: “We’ve seen the outpouring from the UK population that want to help Ukrainians”, and went on to say people are ‘very frustrated’ that they are having difficulties registering to help.

Ms Rayner added the Labour party ‘applauded’ the government for supplying Ukraine with weaponry and equipment but that the party would also offer ‘humanitarian aid’.

Her comments came after Andrew Marr asked whether Ms Rayner would ‘raise the white flag to Putin?’, as suggested by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the weekend, and pointed out that the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was "pretty close to being a pacifist".

In direct response to Mr Johnson’s comments, Ms Rayner accused the prime minister of using ‘rhetoric’ that ‘gets him into hot water’ adding: “I think he’s just playing fast and loose with his comments as he often does."

Discussing the war in Ukraine, she said: “We need to see a de-escalation of the situation” adding: “President Putin cannot win this war.”

The MP called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an ‘international hero’ and said Putin could never ‘crush the spirit’ of Ukraine or the ‘condemnation’ and ‘absolute outrage’ from the international community.

The MP went on to say that Putin needed to realise the war was an ‘absolute disaster for Russia’ and that ‘every death’ in Ukraine was ‘on his hands’.

She said that coming from a military family she, like the Labour Party, has always been "very clear" about the need to protect national security.

She added: “We formed NATO, the Labour party did, because the party recognised after the Second World War that it was really important that we had peacetime and that we recognised the threat that is always looming from those that want to do our United Kingdom harm’". 

Referring back to Mr Johnson’s comments, Mr Marr said the prime minister was trying to remind people of the ‘Jeremy Corbyn era’ and asked Ms Rayner if she could ‘honestly’ say Mr Corbyn would have been as ‘effective a war leader’ as Mr Johnson.

In reply, Ms Rayner said: “Jeremy Corbyn was very clear on his condemnation of Putin, long before it was popular to do that.

"We've seen pictures of the prime minister with Russian oligarchs, shaking the hands of President Putin, so I'd be very careful about that language."