Lee Anderson has launched a scathing attack on the Labour Government’s latest plan to house asylum seekers in Britain, branding the move “disgusting”.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK MP tore into Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to hand newly built council houses to illegal migrants in a bid to close down asylum hotels across the country.
Up to 200 local authorities are said to be keen on the scheme proposed by the Government, with five councils confirming their interest – Labour-run Brighton and Hove, Hackney, Peterborough and Thanet, along with Labour-Liberal Democrat-run Powys, according to The i Paper.
Last year, 1.33 million people were on the waiting list for social housing in England, the highest number since 2014.
Expressing his outrage at the plans, Mr Anderson told GB News: “In Ashfield alone, we’ve got about 7,000 people on the council house waiting list. It’s been like that for many, many years.
“And to suggest that asylum seekers – let’s be honest, a lot of these aren’t genuine asylum seekers, they’re illegal migrants crossing the Channel and getting loads and loads of freebies in our country – to suggest that these are going to go to the top of the queue above the residents that were born and bred Ashfield, residents in my constituency is absolutely disgusting.
“They should not be given any form of social housing until every single person on the council house waiting list in every constituency in the country are the choice of housing. It is that simple.”
Criticising the Government for regarding a move as a “win”, host Tom Harwood told Mr Anderson: “It does seem extraordinary that the Government almost wants to sell this as a win. They said by the end of the Parliament there will be no asylum hotels, and there may well not be, but my goodness, do they think it’s a win if they end up in council houses instead?”
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has hit out at Government plans to house illegal migrants in newly built council housing
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PA / GB NEWS
The Reform MP agreed: “You’re quite right, Tom, and when they talk about smashing the business model, these idiots in Parliament, this actually adds to the business model, because the people smugglers will say, ‘have no fear, once you’ve been in your four star hotel, three square meals a day, Wi-Fi customer complaints form, have no fear because you would then go straight to the top of the local council house waiting list’.
“It’s another part of the pull factor for the migrants crossing the Channel. It’s disgusting.”
Asked by host Nana Akua if the decision over who is housed in the homes is decided by the council and not Government, Mr Anderson explained: “It goes on need rather than suitability, and they will look at some of these illegal migrants or so-called asylum seekers here, many of them won’t be working.
“If they are working, they’ll be on low pay, so they sort of get bumped to the top of the social housing list where normal, decent, hardworking young people who have done the right thing, the parents have probably done the right thing, the grandparents probably fought in the war for this country.
Asylum seekers are set to be housed in newly built council homes in push to end use of hotels
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PA
“They’ve got absolutely no chance of getting council housing or getting that leg up, what you need when you’re a young person in this country, especially when rents are so high.”
Tom then fumed: “That is the point, because this absolutely takes the biscuit. The amount of money that people who are renting or trying to get on the housing ladder, or who have just got on the housing ladder, it’s absolutely infuriating.
“On my way into work, I pass so many different areas of council and social housing that are in much more desirable locations than I live, and I know I’m not only paying for my house, I’m paying for all of those too, and so many of them are going to relatively recent arrivals in this country.”
Mr Anderson responded: “Quite right Tom, and when you see some of the some of the migrants living in parts of London which quite frankly, as an MP, I get my housing paid for in London, and for an MPs wage which is pretty good, I wouldn’t be able to afford to live in certain parts of London where people are not born in this country, coming over on a boat or wherever, come straight out of the hotel and put into social housing.
Mr Anderson told GB News that the Government is ‘putting migrants above the British people’
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GB NEWS
“And quite frankly, I couldn’t afford it, and none of my residents in Ashfield could afford to live in these certain parts of London.”
He concluded: “It’s unfair on the British public, and once again, it’s this Government and the Government previously putting migrants above the British people, it is disgusting.”
A Home Office spokesman said in a statement: “The number of small boat crossings are shameful and the British people deserve better.
“This Government is taking action. We have removed almost 50,000 people who were here illegally, and our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
“The Home Secretary has announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here.”