The government’s sponsorship scheme for Ukrainian refugees is radical – and not without risk
2 years, 9 months ago

The government’s sponsorship scheme for Ukrainian refugees is radical – and not without risk

The Independent  

After chaos comes innovation, of sorts. Ever since the Russians invaded Ukraine – an eventuality the intelligence services were warning about for weeks in advance – ministers have found themselves scrambling to devise suitable ways of getting Ukrainian refugees safely to Britain and playing catch-up with the remarkable wave of public sympathy for the plight of the Ukrainian people. But one, the sponsorship scheme, looks to be one of the most radical social experiments tried by any government since the end of the Second World War. Worse still, it may provide a new battleground in Britain’s unending culture wars, with every liberal celebrity and opposition politician asked about precisely how many Ukrainians they will be allowing to live in their big houses, with the depressingly predictable charge of “hypocrisy” not far behind. For a government with little inclination to devote resources to caring for refugees, or to spend money on putting them up in hotels or hostels, the notion of tapping up the public’s generosity for a low-cost solution at the same time as being seen to “do the right thing” must be very tempting.

History of this topic

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