Gavin Williamson today urged the Home Office to waive visa fees for scores of Afghan interpreters who are in fear of deportation despite the promise of a new life in Britain.

The defence secretary said he was confident that what has been described as a “shameful” situation — the requirement for interpreters and their wives and children each to pay more than £2,000 for the right to indefinite leave to remain in the UK — would be resolved quickly.

The Times understands, however, that the Ministry of Defence first raised the issue with the Home Office in February and the policy has yet to be changed, leaving some 400 former interpreters in total and their families in a state of anxious limbo.

“We have made