THE Tories’ Ukraine sponsorship scheme is “unwelcoming,” a cross-bench peer trying to offer her home to a refugee family said today.

Baroness Ilora Finlay of Llandaff has been waiting three weeks for visas for a mother and two children to be cleared after spending eight hours filling in the forms for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

She described the process as confusing and complicated, with each refugee requiring their own form.

“The silence is awful… Nobody can help me find out what’s happened to these people’s applications,” the peer said.

“I think there is a failure of recognition that this uncertainty is adding to the trauma that these people have already experienced.

“These aren’t just pieces of paper, these are people… and these are people who have lost everything. The message from the system is that the country is not welcoming them.”

Government figures show that, as of last Tuesday, only 12,000 Ukrainian refugees had arrived in Britain, prompting renewed calls for the government to waive visa requirements. 

Ministers have accepted that progress on the scheme has not been quick enough. 

A spokesperson said that the application form has been streamlined and greater resources have been put into the system. 

Continued anger over Britain’s approach to the Ukraine refugee crisis coincided with Prime Minister Boris Johnson making a surprise visit to Kiev on Saturday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

That night, Downing Street said that Britain would send 120 armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile systems to Ukraine, as well as further economic support. 

“We are stepping up our own military and economic support and convening a global alliance to bring this tragedy to an end and ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation,” Mr Johnson said. 

Igor Zhovkva, Mr Zelensky’s chief diplomatic adviser, said it was very important that Ukrainians see foreign leaders such as Mr Johnson visit the country. 

He said that more world leaders are expected to visit next week. 

“Every visit, every phone call, every act of support counts and brings us to victory,” he told BBC television. 

Peace campaigners have warned against the dispatch of more arms to Ukraine, warning that plans by Nato to supply new and heavier weapons “risks starting World War III.”