Labour has pledged to stop using asylum hotels, a costly form of accommodation that has become a focal point for anti-migrant protests.<\/p>\n
The government has sought to house migrants at military sites across the country instead, announcing in June that it planned to open three more including the site in Bicester, Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n
The plans have prompted protests<\/a> there, with residents of nearby Piddington voting to stage a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK.<\/a><\/p>\n Burnham said on Tuesday that he would listen to and address the concerns being raised.<\/p>\n “I don’t know the issue yet in detail, but in some ways, as I understand it, it is about creating secure space,” he said.<\/p>\n “We understand people’s concerns and I will look into the issues raised by the good people of Piddington.”<\/p>\n But he added: “I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part.”<\/p>\n After winning the Makerfield by-election in June, Burnham promised to end “HMO Britain” and said he would change Britain’s asylum accommodation system.<\/p>\n HMOs, or houses in multiple occupation, have been widely used by government contractors to house asylum seekers, often in lower income, urban areas.<\/p>\n Last week, there were anti-immigration demonstrations in the town of Thetford, Norfolk, with protesters attempting to enter homes where they believed asylum seekers were living.<\/a><\/p>\n In response to Burnham’s interview, Philp reiterated the Conservatives’ policy of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport migrants to their country of origin or a safe third country. <\/p>\n “Andy Burnham just doesn’t get it,” he wrote on X.<\/p>\n “Illegal immigrants should all be deported within a week of arrival – to their country of origin or a safe third country like Rwanda.”<\/p>\n Government statistics, external<\/a> showed there were 97,519 people in receipt of asylum support at the end of March, with 20,885 in hotel accommodation.<\/p>\n The figures added that 72,768 people were in other accommodation, including “dispersal accommodation” – which normally means houses in the community.<\/p>\n The remaining 3,866 people were in receipt of subsistence support only, according to the government.<\/p>\n The regions and nations with the highest number of asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support included 19,578 in the north-west of England, 13,687 in London, 11,969 in the West Midlands and 8,635 in Yorkshire and the Humber.<\/p>\n The Home Office said the regions with the most supported asylum seekers as a proportion of their overall population were the north-east and north-west of England, with 26 and 25 supported people per 10,000 residents respectively.<\/p>\n It added the local authorities with the highest numbers of supported asylum seekers within them were Glasgow city (3,870), Birmingham (2,142), Liverpool (2,053), Coventry (1,712) and Belfast (1,607). <\/p>\n Burnham, during his time serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester, threatened to block the region from housing any more asylum seekers<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n He complained about the government’s dispersal system and said Greater Manchester’s public services could not continue to support “disproportionate” numbers of people compared with elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n Burnham at the time said the north-west of England was hosting 25% of the national population of asylum applicants who require housing and support – with Greater Manchester housing 70% of the region’s numbers.<\/p>\n