Fleeing, fighting or freezing in basements across Ukraine is the new reality for millions of our European friends.

As the casualty roll mounts, families are being torn apart by an assault on their country.

Fixated by the feed of horror told by brave journalists, we learn of a world that can never be the same again.

As the world draws together, 141 nations united at the UN General Assembly. We need to strengthen our resolve to pursue justice and unveil the darker corners of our planet.

While just five backed Putin, 47 failed to show solidarity. We mustn’t give up on these countries or let them be drawn tighter into the complex web of international diplomacy by Russia and its allies.

And while the UK is united in defending the democracy of Ukraine, we can and must do much more to help its people.

As Poland, Moldova and all those who line Ukraine’s borders have shown what it is to be generous and welcoming, last week our Conservative Government were shown to be on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of humanity.

York Press:

A boy fleeing the war in Ukraine peers from a tent after crossing the Romanian border. Picture: AP /Andreea Alexandru

Refugees are not going on a holiday, they are fleeing atrocities unimaginable. They are women and children and the elderly. Now is not the time to make them travel to visa centres miles away, but to let them come, let them pick up necessary documentation at UK ports, airports and stations and receive the most generous of welcomes.

I have sent a workable plan for the Home Secretary; I await her response.

I know that people in York are offering rooms to host a family to join with theirs. It is time Government recognised the reality of the situation, scrapped the visa obligations and aligned itself with the other countries reaching out.

When it comes to sanctions, it has been too slow. Eight per cent of UK oil comes from Russia and Government is just talking about phasing it out, rather than increasing the pressure when it matters and stopping the funding going back to the Putin regime at once.

I’m proud of the trade unionists who have refused to dock the oil tankers. They stand with Ukrainians. Our Government should follow their lead.

The Government must rapidly divest from Putin’s fossil fuels and accelerate green growth in one. Scaling manufacturing capacity within a Green New Deal will deliver good jobs and good energy, not just in the UK. As part of the war-effort, we can support the EU to cut its dependency on Russia. We can then take this technology out across the world, not least to developing countries, saving the planet and the people of Ukraine at the same time as Russia’s focus switches to its own economic challenges, rather than funding more destruction.

This last week, I was proud to see BioYorkshire take its next step forward, looking at how biotechnology and bioscience seeded in York will give rise to new agricultural techniques and new energy sources. This project, which will deliver 4,000 new green collar jobs, has never been more relevant.

As the cost of living bites, we need the Chancellor to come out of hiding. Inflation is soaring, with poorest households expecting to see a rise of 10 per cent by the autumn. Food costs are shooting up and our energy bills could reach £2,000 a year.

The Chancellor’s response has been woeful. Households in Band A-D will receive a paltry £150 Council Tax rebate, and then an Energy Bill rebate ‘loan’ in October, alongside further tax rises this April. He has done nothing to stop more and more falling into poverty.

It is the Spring Statement next week. I am calling for the Chancellor to support low-income families to help them through this economic challenge. Underpinning household costs, lifting the minimum wage and raising benefits, including the state pension. Labour has called for a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies, so they too pay their way.

This war is going to cost us all. Life will never be the same. But at least we are not facing the terror that our western neighbours do. It was just three weeks ago that they lived and worked and dreamed like us. Now, as they step through this nightmare, we must play our part too.