Labour accused of 'putting illegal migrants ahead of Britons' in housing queue
Reform and Tories have taken aim at Labour over its plans to move asylum seekers across the country.
Labour has been accused of putting illegal migrants ahead of Britons in the housing queue amid plans to “scatter” asylum seekers across the nation.
The government has struck agreements with councils on the number of asylum seekers who will be settled in their area in a bid to shift away from using large military sites.
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said: “Labour putting illegal migrants ahead of British citizens in housing queue under Operation Scatter.
“Labour don’t care about British working class.”
Contractors have been advertising on behalf of the Home Office for landlords with empty homes to come forward.
They say they would consider homes of multiple occupancy, family properties, former care homes and student accommodation.
Former MP Matt Warman said: “The damage this policy would do to communities will make hotel use seem trivial, and it will hit areas where housing waiting lists are longest hardest. It will put rocket boosters under discontentment.”
Critics said the move could push up rents and squeeze accommodation in the private rented sector.
Baroness Claire Fox said: “If this is true, I can't imagine a policy more stupid or tone-deaf in the present circumstances.”
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Former Tory MP Alexander Stafford added: “I thought Labour were going to smash the gangs. Now it looks like they're going to smash the housing market instead. Thanks, Labour.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has already shut down the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset, which housed up to 500 asylum seekers.
The government said continuing the use of the barge would have cost more than £20 million next year, and that scrapping it formed part of the expected £7.7 billion of savings in asylum costs over the next ten years.
Both RAF Wethersfield and RAF Scampton were among sites identified for housing hundreds of asylum seekers each under the previous Tory government.
It formed part of former prime minister Rishi Sunak's efforts to reduce the cost of housing migrants in hotels - which costs around £8 million a day.
Earlier this year, the National Audit Office found the Tories' plans to use alternative large-scale sites to house asylum seekers would actually cost more than keeping them in hotels.
RAF Wethersfield, in Essex, began accommodating asylum seekers in July last year and was set to house a maximum of 800 people.
A court was last month told how asylum seekers at the “prison-like” former RAF base experienced scabies outbreaks.
Four ex-residents took legal action against the Home Office and claimed they were unlawfully housed at the site.
RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire, was also set to house a maximum of 800 people, reduced from 2,000, but plans to move in migrants have been in limbo.
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Now Labour is seeking to “massively increase'” the procurement of “dispersed accommodation” because of concerns about the pressures placed on local services by large-scale sites.
According to The Times, this will include empty homes or former student blocks that have self-catering facilities.
A source told the newspaper: “It's all about having a more equitable dispersal of asylum seekers.
“Otherwise you have these areas that have concentrated numbers and that is what we got in areas with hotels and large sites.
“That creates a whole host of challenges, meaning services in those areas are then stretched and those asylum seekers can't get the basic or crucial support they need.”
The Home Office declined to comment.
