Red Wall areas housing seven times as many asylum seekers as the South East

Red Wall areas are housing seven times as many asylum seekers per person as south-east England, an analysis of Home Office data has revealed.

The figures show that Red Wall areas have, on average, 15.2 asylum seekers per 10,000 of the population compared with just 2.1 per 10,000 in the South East.

It means Red Wall areas have the second highest rates for asylum seekers in the UK after the North East of England, which tops the table at 29.3 per 10,000.

The figures underline the disproportionate numbers of asylum seekers being housed in northern, traditionally Labour areas, and London, which will be some of the key battlegrounds in the forthcoming election due next year.

Historical consequence

This is largely a historic consequence of the asylum dispersal schemes of the past decade, which have been largely voluntary and taken up by Labour councils often as a political decision to support refugees.

Labour-controlled councils have 16 asylum seekers per 10,000 people, compared to 2.8 per 10,000 in Conservative areas - almost six times more, according to the Telegraph analysis.

Thirty local councils - fewer than eight per cent of the total and nearly all Labour or no overall control - account for 56 per cent, or 32,221, of all asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers in the analysis are defined as those who have been dispersed from temporary accommodation suchas hotels to homes where they receive what is known as section 95 housing and basic living support.

There are, however, signs of growing community tensions fuelled by a backlog of more than 140,000 asylum applications and shortage of council accommodation that means nearly 40,000 asylum seekers have had to be housed in local hotels, sometimes at short notice.

Plans to house asylum seekers in disused holiday camps, former student accommodation and old military bases to ease them out of hotels which cost the Home Office more than £5 million a day have yet to get off the ground amid local opposition to the moves.

James Daly, a member of the home affairs committee and a Red Wall Tory MP for Bury North, said: “If you continue to put people into four-star accommodation in areas where there are no services or infrastructure to support them, then you are going to get serious issues. 

“The situation of where people go will only be solved by a fundamental change in policy. That means policies like Rwanda and only allowing asylum seekers in through legal and safe routes. The big question is then how many we as a country want to allow in. If you don't make that decision, it will be never ending.”

Jonathan Gullis, Tory MP for Stoke on Trent, which is among the top 20 areas for the number of asylum seekers, warned that the Conservatives could be “wiped out” in Red Wall constituencies unless the Government “gets a grip on the small boats”.

'Give us action, not words'

He welcomed Rishi Sunak’s commitment to stop the boats as one of his Government’s top five priorities but said: “Words must turn into action. People must see a difference in their communities.”

Polling by Opinium shows that 55 per cent of the public believe immigration is too high, rising to 63 per cent among voters living in seats that the Tories gained in 2019. Of those who voted Conservative in 2019 but would not do so now, 79 per cent said they believed immigration was too high.

The Home Office is attempting to disperse asylum seekers to a wider range of council areas through a scheme launched last year that provides authorities with one-off payments of £250 per person and £3,500 for each new occupied bed space.

However, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned: “A lack of funding to meet councils’ costs remains a disincentive to participating in the voluntary dispersal scheme, particularly at a time when they are facing significant budget pressures.”

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We need to see a proper plan from the Government that will support refugees who have come here seeking safety to rebuild their lives in their new communities and fully participate in society."

A Home Office spokesman said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who seek asylum and require accommodation has reached record levels, placing unprecedented pressures on the asylum system.

 “The fairer full dispersal model aims to increase the amount of accommodation available for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute helping to reduce the time they need to stay in costly hotels.”