Lewes councillors call for extra help for Ukrainian refugees

On Monday (July 18), Lewes councillors debated a motion, from Liberal Democrat Christine Brett, connected to the national Homes for Ukraine scheme.

It called on council leader James MacCleary — who was elected during the same meeting as part of the authority’s power-sharing Co-operative Alliance arrangements — to write to the Home Secretary about the next steps for the scheme and ask for more support to help the refugees involved.

This letter, the motion said, should request five things from the government: more information on what would happen after the first six months of the scheme; an acknowledgement of its commitment to the scheme; calls for a second round of host families; more funding to help refugees move into rented housing; and an increase in Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.

While they said they support the principle of the motion, the council’s Conservative group took issue with two of these requests, specifically the increase in LHA rates and the call for the government to ‘acknowledge the commitment already made’.

Conservative group leader Isabelle Linington said she had approached Cllr Brett ahead of the meeting and asked for the wording to be amended. They did not table the amendments during the meeting, however.

Cllr Linington said: “If you are asking the government for extra help, why are you criticising them in the letter?

“I don’t think there is any doubt about the commitment of the government support Ukrainian refugees and helping Ukraine in the war. After all the help they’ve given, I don’t think there is any doubt about that. So I don’t know why you seem to need to remind them of their commitment.”

She added: “We agree with the principle. It is a pity we couldn’t agree the amendments. It is a shame that, on something we agree on, we couldn’t work more closely to get something we agree on.”

Conservatives argued the contentious parts of the motion had made it ‘unduly aggressive’ and, in the case of the LHA rates, asked for something which would not be done. This was disputed by the council’s other political parties, however.

Cllr MacCleary said: “I find this dancing on a head of pin that we get from the opposition whenever there is anything even mildly critical of the government to be frankly obscene when it comes to issues like this. It is beyond pathetic.

“We are at a stage here where these people are in need of reassurance from their local authority — cross-party, their councillors who they see as people in positions of authority — that we are going to do what we can to build a safe and secure future for them and their children.”

He added: “This idea that you are not allowed to ask the government for support if you are even mildly critical of them. I mean how insecure is this government that they would turn around and be so venal to not give us any support for refugees in our district?”

Despite disagreement on the wording, the motion was ultimately agreed on a majority vote.