Highlights
- Comments follow protests in Piddington, Oxfordshire, over a military base housing plan
- Shadow home secretary Chris Philp rejects call, says migrants should not be housed "anywhere"
- Immigration minister Anna Turley says asylum hotel numbers have fallen from 400 to 160 under Labour
PRIME MINISTER Andy Burnham has said wealthier parts of the UK should take on a greater share of housing for asylum seekers.
Poorer communities cannot continue to absorb the bulk of dispersal placements, Burnham told GB News. "We cannot have a situation where it's only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal," he was quoted as saying.
His remarks came after residents in Piddington, Oxfordshire, protested against government plans to house asylum seekers at a former military base nearby. Locals in the village have voted to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK over the issue.
Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, dismissed Burnham's position. "We shouldn't be housing illegal immigrants anywhere – wealthy or not," he said, and called on X for illegal immigrants to be deported within a week, either to their home country or to a safe third country.
Labour has committed to phasing out asylum hotels, which have drawn repeated protests, and has turned to military sites instead. Three more such sites were announced in June, including the Bicester base in Oxfordshire.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday (12), immigration minister Anna Turley said hotel numbers had dropped from a peak of 400 under the Conservatives to 160 under Labour, with a full closure planned by 2029.
According to her, the shift had already saved £1 billion and pointed to areas such as Blackpool, where cheaper housing had left communities carrying more than their fair share.
Home Office figures show 97,519 people were receiving asylum support at the end of March, of whom 20,885 were in hotels. Glasgow, Birmingham and Liverpool are the local authorities with the highest numbers of supported asylum seekers
Burnham raised similar concerns as Greater Manchester mayor in 2018, when he said the region was housing a disproportionate share of the north-west's asylum applicants.
