The former party leader and Foreign Secretary wrote in The Times that the UK had been "more far-sighted than most countries in sending weapons before the conflict began" to Ukraine.

The former Richmond MP added: "We should equally play our full part in accepting people who have fled, suspending many of our normal rules as an act of solidarity and in the name of common humanity.

"The EU’s decision to allow in Ukrainians for up to three years is the right one, and it is part of another development which Putin underestimated: the re-awakening of the West."

William Hague has suggested that the UK follows the EU in offering sanctuary to all Ukrainian refugees for up to three years.

His comments follow a letter sent by 37 Conservative MPs - including Yorkshire's Alec Shelbrooke and Andrew Jones - to Boris Johnson arguing that the UK should take a "flexible and pragmatic approach to those Ukrainians wishing to seek temporary refuge in the UK until it is safe to return to their lives in their home country".

Priti Patel has said the Government is “absolutely working on” the possibility of helping Ukrainian refugees come to the UK.

Yesterday the Home Secretary ruled out a visa waiver for those fleeing the conflict with Russia over security concerns.

Speaking with ITV’s Peston on Monday night, she reiterated statements made earlier in the day about the priority of safeguarding “our public and our people” from “Putin’s Russia”.

The UK is being urged to do more to help Ukrainian refugees

She added that “further changes” would be announced in the “next few days” to help the people of Ukraine, but the current situation was “very fluid and dynamic”.

Ms Patel went on: “This is absolutely a phased approach around humanitarian support for the people of Ukraine. So this isn’t just about what we do on visas and our policy, this is much wider than that.

“So over the last weeks we’ve been focused on getting British nationals out of Ukraine, we’ve changed all sorts of things in terms of visas and prioritisation of cases. That’s the first aspect to this.

“Our policies are evolving – this is changing, this is a very fluid and dynamic situation. And in fact there will be further changes and announcements that we’ll be making in the next few days as well.”

The Home Secretary, who has come under intense political pressure from MPs across the Commons to do more to allow Ukrainian refugees to reach the UK, insisted she was taking action to open safe routes.

Ms Patel also faced criticism from refugee charities for falling short of the package of measures put forward by all 27 EU member countries.

According to UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi 520,000 refugees from Ukraine have so far fled to neighbouring countries and the number keeps rising.

The UN is planning for up to four million refugees in the coming weeks if the conflict doesn’t end, he said.

“We know that we are not even scratching the surface to meet the needs of Ukrainians,” he told an emergency Security Council meeting.

Earlier on Monday Ms Patel told MPs in the Commons she was following the “strongest security advice” as she rejected the call to scrap the need for visas.

“Over the weekend I have seen members of this House calling for full visa waivers for all Ukrainians,” Ms Patel said.

“Security and biometric checks are a fundamental part of our visa approval process worldwide and will continue, as they did for the evacuation of people from Afghanistan.

“That is vital to keep British citizens safe and to ensure that we are helping those in genuine need, particularly as Russian troops are now infiltrating Ukraine and merging into Ukrainian forces.

“Intelligence reports also state the presence of extremist groups and organisations who threaten the region but also our domestic homeland.

“We know all too well what Putin’s Russia is willing to do, even on our soil, as we saw through the Salisbury attack.”

The Home Secretary said the first phase of the “bespoke humanitarian route” being created for Ukrainians to enter the UK would allow around 100,000 people to come to “seek sanctuary”.

The Government has already announced measures allowing people who are settled in the UK to be able to bring their Ukrainian immediate family members to join them.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said the Government needs to do more to help Ukrainians fleeing war and seeking to rejoin friends and family in the UK.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “At the moment, what the Home Office is doing is trying to just tweak the existing system.

“They’re trying to carry on with a version of business as usual, with a version of asking people to apply for traditional work visas or traditional visitor visas or traditional family visas that are still narrowly drawn.

“And the normal system just doesn’t work when you are facing war in Europe, when you’re facing a crisis on this scale.

“We need to be fast and flexible – that is what other countries have done in different ways and that is what we can do as well, what we have always done in the past, and I think it’s what people across the country want to do”.

She also said the Home Office “has simply not done the p

William Hague joins calls for UK to welcome Ukrainian refugees after Tory MPs speak out