Labour’s borders minister has defended Home Office proposals to accommodate 1,200 migrants near a small Oxfordshire village with just 400 residents.
Anna Turley said the Government must ensure a “fair and equitable system” for placing asylum seekers in communities across the UK.
She also backed Andy Burnham’s argument that more affluent areas should “play their part” in providing accommodation for migrants.
The Prime Minister said on Tuesday that he would ensure new arrivals are not placed solely in the “poorest communities” when questioned about plans for a migrant camp near Piddington.
Under the Home Office scheme, a former military base in Bicester, Oxfordshire, would be used to house 1,250 male asylum seekers.
However, residents of nearby Piddington, a tiny village of about 400 people, have voted to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK as part of their campaign against the proposals.
Ms Turley defended the plans on Tuesday morning, telling LBC: “This is about fairness.
“This is making sure that there is distribution around the country, and this is about a more fair and equitable system that limits the impact on local communities.”
The residents of Piddington – a tiny village of around 400 people – are protesting against plans for a nearby migrant camp
Anna Turley (second from right) pictured with Prime Minister Andy Burnham earlier this month as they visited Dover
Asked about a potential influx of asylum seekers three times as large as Piddington’s population, the Home Office minister said: ‘Well, I suppose they’re not going to be in the village. They’re going to be contained in a former military base.’
But pressed on whether asylum seekers would be free to leave the site, Ms Turley replied: ‘They will be allowed out, but everything they need will be on that site. So they will be managed. They will be contained.’
She added: ‘They’re on a self-contained site. We are looking at former military bases around the country.
‘We are also looking at former industrial sites, student accommodation, other means by which we can put people in secure places that is contained, that is manageable and… is more affordable than putting people in hotels.
‘We know where people are. We can manage the system.’
Asked if she would be happy for a similar number of people to arrive in her Redcar constituency, Ms Turley said: ‘We don’t have a former military base… but the reality is it’s about fairness.’
She continued: ‘The point the Prime Minister was making was this is about fairness.
‘We take our fair share of asylum seekers in Redcar, and the point is lots of working class places around the country – I talked about Blackpool, places with hotels – have had to bear more than their fair share.
‘And this is about fairness. This is making sure that there is distribution around the country, and that this is about a more fair and equitable system that limits the impact on local communities.
‘By having secure and maintained and managed facilities like former military bases, it’s a much better way to keep people in one place and reduce the impact on local communities.’
Mr Burnham himself was asked on Tuesday about the plans for a migrant camp near Piddington.
He told GB News: ‘I will listen to what people are saying and respond to the concerns that they are putting forward.
‘I don’t know the issue yet in detail, but in some ways, as I understand it, it is about creating secure space.’
The PM added: ‘It’s obviously going to be challenging, but I am prepared always to listen to people, to work with people and to pick up legitimate concerns, and I will address those concerns.
‘I do have to say, we cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers. I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part.
‘We understand people’s concerns and I will look into the issues raised by the good people of Piddington.’
In response to the PM’s comments, Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Andy Burnham is planning to dish out another vindictive punishment beating to the UK’s middle classes.
‘Labour has hammered hard-working families with punitive tax increases galore, increased regulation and soaring energy bills.
‘Now, Burnham plans to deliberately flood more neighbourhoods with thousands of illegal immigrants who he has let into this country, and many of whom will commit serious crimes including rape and murder.’
