Wealthier areas must play their part in housing asylum seekers, Burnham suggests

Labour has pledged to halt the use of asylum hotels, describing them as a costly form of accommodation that has become a focal point for anti‑migrant protests. The government said it is instead seeking to house migrants at designated sites across the country, announcing in June that it intends to open three additional locations, including the site at Bicester, Oxfordshire. Those plans have prompted protests in the area, with residents of nearby Piddington voting to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK. Speaking on Tuesday, Burnham said he would listen to and address the concerns being raised. He stated, "I don't cognize the contented yet successful detail, but successful immoderate ways, arsenic I recognize it, it is astir creating unafraid space," and added, "We recognize people's concerns and I volition look into the issues raised by the bully radical of Piddington." He also insisted, "I bash judge each parts of the state request to work, to play their part." After winning the Makerfield by‑election in June, Burnham vowed to end "HMO Britain" and said he would reform the nation's asylum accommodation system. Houses in multiple occupation, or HMOs, have been widely used by government contractors to accommodate asylum seekers, often in lower‑income municipal areas. Last week, anti‑immigration demonstrations took place in the town of Thetford, Norfolk, where protesters attempted to enter homes they believed housed asylum seekers. In response to Burnham's remarks, Philp reiterated the Conservatives' position of withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport migrants to their country of origin or a safe third country. He wrote on X, "Andy Burnham conscionable doesn't get it," and continued, "Illegal immigrants should each beryllium deported wrong a week of accomplishment - to their state of root oregon a harmless 3rd state similar Rwanda." Government statistics covering the year ending March 2026 showed 97,519 people in receipt of asylum support at the end of March, with 20,885 housed in hotel accommodation. The figures indicated that 72,768 individuals were in other forms of accommodation, including "dispersal accommodation," which typically refers to community‑based houses. The remaining 3,866 people were receiving subsistence support only, according to the Home Office. The regions with the highest numbers of asylum seekers receiving Home Office support were the north‑west of England (19,578), London (13,687), the West Midlands (11,969) and Yorkshire and the Humber (8,635). The Home Office reported that, relative to their overall populations, the north‑east and north‑west of England had the greatest concentration of supported asylum seekers, at 26 and 25 per 10,000 residents respectively. Among local authorities, Glasgow city recorded the highest number of supported asylum seekers (3,870), followed by Birmingham (2,142), Liverpool (2,053), Coventry (1,712) and Belfast (1,607). During his tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham threatened in 2018 to block the area from accommodating additional asylum seekers, arguing that the government's dispersal strategy placed a disproportionate burden on the city's public services. He said at the time that the north‑west of England was hosting 25 % of the national asylum seeker population requiring housing and support, with Greater Manchester accounting for 70 % of that regional total. The then‑Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, responded by pledging to work toward a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation.