Planned government cuts to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme could “send the wrong message to Putin” by giving the impression that Western support for Kyiv is faltering, a Conservative former defence secretary has warned.
Starting from January 1, monthly "thank-you" payments for households hosting Ukrainian refugees are set to drop from £350 to £100.
Local authority funding to support the initiative will also be scaled back on the same date, falling from £5,900 per guest to £3,300 per arrival.
Established in response to Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the initiative has supported 181,000 of the 234,000 Ukrainians who fled to the UK to escape the conflict.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Tory former defence secretary Sir Grant Shapps claimed that Andy Burnham’s government had "slipped out" the decision on 15 September, expressing concern over how the move might be perceived.
He said: "Everyone accepts eventually that a scheme like this would come to an end.
"There won’t be that many new people coming over now, but there will be people who are here and are still housed in homes."
Reflecting on his own experience, he explained: "The family that came and stayed with us, a three generation family, they stayed here at our own home with us for a year, and then they moved out and they rented themselves."
He noted that "Most of the Ukrainians who come across have been incredibly industrious."
He added: "I accept that things will change over time. What worries me about this announcement is that it might inadvertently send the wrong message to (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin and others that the West is somehow wavering, that we’re losing interest, that our attention has gone elsewhere, which is the calculation that he has always wanted and tried to make, and and that would be the concern."
Sir Grant concluded: "I don’t like the way it’s been snuck out there.
"And I don’t like the way it could be misinterpreted as somehow perhaps London is weakening its resolve as far as Westminster is concerned, and that would be a problem."
