Remoaners can moan all they like about how meanspirited Priti’s refugee policy is, though they should look across the channel to our old friends in the EU. To bring co-conspirators up to speed, in January 2021 the EU introduced a new mechanism to refuse EU funds to national governments who breach the rule of law; in March 2021 Poland and Hungary challenged the regulation in the EU Court of Justice; last month the court dismissed Poland and Hungary’s appeal. This morning, the EU Parliament voted 478 to 155 to apply immediate sanctions on the two countries.

The Commission “must take urgent action and immediately apply the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism by notifying the member states concerned in writing.” In the last fortnight, Poland has taken 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees, Hungary has taken 191,348. How exactly do EU parliamentarians believe these financial sanctions will aid the two countries to clothe, feed and house the refugees in the midst of war on their borders…