Shabana Mahmood has reinforced Andy Burnham’s call for asylum seekers to be housed in more affluent areas, saying she wants the system to deliver a “fair spread” across the UK.
Last week, the Prime Minister pledged that new arrivals would not be concentrated solely in the “poorest communities”, arguing that more middle-class neighbourhoods must also “play their part”.
Ms Mahmood said her approach would involve a mixed model for asylum accommodation, drawing on military sites, former student flats, bedsits and houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).
She acknowledged that moving to the new system would take time, but said the aim was to ensure that “no one type of community is bearing the brunt”.
The Home Secretary told The Times: “You’ve got to get a fair spread and what we are doing with the new model of asylum accommodation and the future of asylum accommodation is think carefully about how you have a fair spread that doesn’t end up being in one community or one type of community.”
Asked what she would say to residents living near new sites where large numbers of asylum seekers may be housed, Ms Mahmood, the MP for Birmingham Ladywood, said: “In a way it doesn’t really matter whether you’re in an affluent part of the country or in a more deprived constituency like mine.
“A change in the population, the demographic and in the housing in which asylum seekers are often housed and the transient nature of that population does have an impact on communities.
“You’re talking to someone who’s had asylum hotels in my constituency, and lots of dispersal accommodation in my own patch and my own city as well. I know these issues well, I know how residents feel about them.”
Shabana Mahmood has doubled down on Andy Burnham’s plans to send asylum seekers to wealthier areas by saying she wants a ‘fair spread’ of migrants across the country
Ms Mahmood continued: ‘I get it, I understand that these are things that worry people and I get where they’re coming from.
‘The people in better off parts of the country, really the issues aren’t that different to people who I represent in my patch.’
Mr Burnham is expected to push ahead with his plans to send asylum seekers to wealthier areas even if there’s a higher cost for taxpayers.
The Government is said to be considering raising the strict rent caps imposed on private-sector contractors for asylum housing which restrict contractors from proposing higher-cost properties, often found in middle-class communities.
Raising the cap would allow more migrants to be moved to more expensive postcodes, with the PM said to be keen to pursue the plans ‘as a point of principle’ even if it costs more.
Home Office figures show there were 97,519 people in receipt of asylum support at the end of March this year.
Of these, 20,885 were in hotel accommodation while 3,866 were getting subsistence support only – i.e. solely receiving weekly money from the Government for basic living needs such as food, clothing and toiletries.
Another 72,768 were in ‘other’ accommodation including ‘dispersal’ accommodation, typically comprising flats or houses often set up as HMOs.
Analysis by Our News Outlet has revealed there are currently 17 local authority areas – including the Cotswolds, Derbyshire Dales, Malvern Hills, the New Forest and the Scottish Highlands – with no taxpayer-supported asylum seekers.
Mr Burnham said last week he did not want 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,’ the PM added, as he was quizzed about local anger over plans for a former military base in Bicester, Oxfordshire, to provide accommodation for 1,250 male asylum seekers.
Residents of Piddington – a tiny village of around 400 residents near to the proposed site – have voted to stage a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK as part of their protests against the proposals.
The residents of Piddington are protesting against plans for a migrant camp at a nearby former military base
On July 4, on the 250th anniversary of American independence, 96 per cent of Piddington voters backed holding an independence referendum.
Mike Nixon, the vice-chairman of Piddington Parish Council, said although he is in agreement with Mr Burnham’s intent to disperse asylum seekers into middle class communities, he believes the plan to do so in Piddington is impractical and unnecessary.
As a result, the village will hold an independence referendum next month. Asked why local residents want one, Mr Nixon said last week: ‘We’re still very frustrated.
‘Andy Burnham did say that he’s willing to listen, but we’ve had no formal contact. No consultation, nothing from the Home Office.
‘We felt that the only way of making our views felt was to say ‘well if we’re not going to be listened to, what’s the point of being a part of the country?’
‘It’s a symbolic vote, and I suspect the village will overwhelmingly vote in favour, because we aren’t being listened to.
‘I think that will send another powerful message to the Government that they can’t just push people around. We have human rights, and our human rights to a family life are being affected by the proposal of this Government.’
Mr Nixon said the plans are flawed, posing risks to both residents and asylum seekers, and because they undermine Mr Burnham’s devolution plans.
