MASS refugee reception centres capable of housing thousands of displaced Ukrainians could be opened in Scotland within months. 

That could mean leisure centres and sports stadiums repurposed as temporary accommodation. 

According to the Scotsman, the proposals are part of the Scottish Government’s “worst case scenario.” 

Refugees minister, Neil Gray is hopeful the centres will not be needed. 

However, huge numbers of Ukrainians applied for the Scottish Government "super sponsor scheme.

That allowed the government to be the named sponsor for the refugees themselves, allowing families to enter Scotland before homes were found.

But applications soared in early June, overwhelming the scheme and forcing the programme to be temporarily halted until more homes can be found.

Earlier this week, it emerged that more than half of the 20,000 Scots who had initially expressed an interest in housing a refugee family in their homes have since dropped out. 

According to the latest figures, 29,992 visas have been approved under the super sponsor scheme.

However, only 12,390 people are already in Scotland, meaning more than 17,600 could still be yet to arrive.

Currently, the Scottish Government is housing some refugees on two chartered cruise ships. 

As well as MS Victoria in Leith, which has been in place for several weeks, a second vessel, the MS Ambition, will be docked on the Clyde to provide accommodation for up to 1,750 people from next month in 714 cabins.

Both vessels and hotel accommodation being used across Scotland are part of a deal worth up to £100m with the firm Corporate Travel Management.

They are supposed to be temporary.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “When the Russian invasion happened, the Nicola Sturgeon spin machine leapt in to action to promise the world.

“Unfortunately, just like every other SNP promise, once the press conference was done, actually doing the hard work of securing housing didn’t seem quite so important.

“As a result, we are facing the prospect of Hurricane Katrina-esque scenes of refugees crammed into sports halls.

“It certainly means Scottish Government claims that the use of cruise ships is merely a temporary solution is dead in the water.

“The Scottish Government needs to launch a fresh public call for homes and hosts, and increase support for local authorities to conduct disclosure checks of hosts, vetting of accommodation and matching of guests.

“The people fleeing here from Ukraine need long-term solutions, not short-term fixes.”

Scottish Labour’s spokeswoman for external affairs, Sarah Boyack, said the centres would be a "betrayal of those who need our help now."

She added: "This is unimaginable in terms of people’s privacy and safety, given what they have already been through by the time they arrive in Scotland.

"It exposes the failure of the SNP to make the super sponsor scheme work. This cannot be about making promises just to grab a headline. Where’s the forward planning to support people who are desperate for help and have been fleeing Putin’s invasion for months now?”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government continues to explore all options to ensure that there is sufficient and safe accommodation for any displaced people from Ukraine arriving in Scotland.

“This includes contingency plans for emergency accommodation as well as increasing temporary accommodation, by for example getting the second ship, which has now docked in Glasgow, prepared to safely host displaced people from Ukraine.

“The welfare of all displaced Ukrainians staying across the country remains the Scottish Government’s absolute priority.

“Almost 16,000 displaced people have arrived with a sponsor located in Scotland, the most per head of any of the four nations across the UK.

“This represents 18 per cent of all UK arrivals with more than three-quarters of these arrivals coming through the successful super sponsor scheme.”