Sir Keir Starmer’s claim that there is “lots of housing” available for asylum seekers in Britain has been slammed as “madness” by critics. The Prime Minister was asked for his response to local councils struggling to allocate housing to homeless people while competing with the Home Office’s search for asylum seeker accommodation. Replying to the concerns raised by the Liaison Committee, made up of senior MPs who chair various Commons select committees, Sir Keir said: “I know, which is why I am so furious at the last Government for leaving tens of thousands of asylum seekers unprocessed, with nowhere to live other than accommodation paid by the taxpayer.”
“There is lots of housing and many local authorities that can be used, and we’re identifying where it can be used,” he added. When pressed for specific examples, the PM said he would write to the committee with details. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick reacted with disbelief to the comments, writing on X: “There are 1.3 million people on social housing waiting lists in England alone.
“But Keir Starmer believes there’s ‘lots of housing’ spare we should be giving to illegal migrants. That’s madness,” Jenrick told his followers. “What is he going on about?”
Dame Meg Hillier, Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch and chair of the Treasury Committee, also questioned Sir Keir’s logic.
“I have to say in a number of our local authorities, picking up from around the table, there isn’t a lot of spare housing available,” she said. “If there were, then councils would be able to be dealing with it by now.”
Labour has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029, partially by reallocating migrants to cheaper taxpayer-funded accommodation.
The Prime Minister has also said he is “impatient” for councils to use new Government funding to help pay for temporary accommodation for homeless people.
It comes after shadow home secretary Chris Philp called on Starmer to address a “public safety crisis” linked to the number of migrants illegally crossing the Channel – with more than 22,500 arriving on small boats so far this year.
While describing violent protests in response to crimes committed by asylum seekers as “never justified”, Philp said the British public were “rightly sick of this illegal immigrant crime wave”.
A series of protests have recently been staged outside the Bell Hotel in Epping after asylum seeeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was charged with sexual assault for allegedly trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl” – with six demonstrators arrested and charged with violent disorder.
Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson said the Government took allegations of sexual assault “incredibly seriously” and was changing the law to ensure those convicted of such offences are not granted asylum.
“We are changing the law in the Border Security Bill to ensure individuals convicted of any registered sexual offence are not granted asylum,” she told the Commons.
“We are legislating to allow for the tagging of any migrant considered to pose a threat to public safety or national security, as well as strengthening our crackdown on illegal working, but we must go further to end hotel use.”