Labour is cutting the monthly payment to British families housing Ukrainian refugees from £350 to £100, a drop of more than two thirds, according to an email sent to hosts yesterday afternoon by MHCLG. Despite all the backslapping over Labour’s ‘continued support’…
The letter, signed by MHCLG Director for Resettlement Josh Goodman, buries the news under two paragraphs of waffly gratitude before getting to the point:
“From 1 January 2027 the monthly UK government thank you payment will change from £350 to £100 per month. This revised amount will apply throughout the Homes for Ukraine visa period and for the first 18-months of the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme. ”
Goodman suggests sponsors who can no longer afford it consider switching their guests to “a more formal rental arrangement“, linking to the Rent a Room scheme. Expect a good number of hosts to conclude they simply can’t carry on…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”