I must begin this week with a huge thank you to the many local people who have donated and organised donations for Ukraine.

Such wonderful acts of kindness and I’m sure we will need more in the coming weeks.

Most days in the House of Commons, we are receiving statements from the Foreign Secretary about Ukraine and the latest that the United Kingdom Government is doing to help. Everything from sending arms to offering sanctuary and working with other nations to ensure an aligned approach. I receive almost daily briefings from the Foreign Office on the latest, and I can tell you this is a very serious situation that poses many mid- and long-term risks to us. The indiscriminate bombing. On Tuesday a targeting of a hospital – just despicable. And I could go on.

The United Kingdom has stepped up to the mark with a raft of measures to help Ukrainians in this country bring their immediate family members to safety. The Government has waived the application fees for family members of British Nationals living in Ukraine. Ukrainians in the UK will be able to bring their families to safety here, and temporary employment visas will be extended until the end of the year at the very least if they cannot return. These measures should benefit every Ukrainian in the UK and around 100,000 Ukrainians more.

More locally, I wanted to touch on fly-tipping, because we have been blighted with it in West Dorset recently on some of our most beautiful landscapes. Recently, Fishponds has been unacceptably targeted. The Dorset Councillor for Marshwood, Simon Christopher has been especially active in addressing this. As part of my campaign for more police focus to the west, I continue to push for greater efforts to clamp down on fly-tipping across this beautiful area and to boost the chances of catching the perpetrators of this crime.

CHRIS LODER

WEST DORSET MP