Minister downplays reports of property purchases for asylum homes
Tom Pursglove offered the assurance after Conservative former minister Sir Simon Clarke raised concerns about the department reportedly buying up “large amounts of property in some of the poorer areas of England”.
In February, a national newspaper reported that the Home Office had built up a stock of 16,000 properties for asylum seekers and quoted a department “insider” who noted the scheme was “heavily clustered in places where property is cheap – Hull, Bradford and Teesside”.
On Monday, it was reported that residents in the three areas were critical of the scheme.
Sir Simon, the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, told Home Office questions in the Commons: “In 2016, Middlesbrough had the highest ratio of asylum seekers per head of population of anywhere in England and I welcome the closure of hotels.
“But I worry about reports in today’s Daily Mail that the Home Office is now buying up large amounts of property in some of the poorer areas of England which risks taking us back to the situation that we saw in 2016.
“Will the minister reassure me that this isn’t the case because my constituents are clear that this places an unacceptable strain on the community and indeed an unhappy strain on community cohesion?”
Mr Pursglove replied: “(Sir Simon) is a strong supporter of the work that the Government is doing to get a better grip on the flow of people coming across to our country, who inevitably need accommodating whilst they are here.
“We have a mixture of accommodation to meet those needs. Getting the numbers down is critical to be able to reduce that dependence.
“What I am able to say, however, is that we’re not actively pursuing procurement in the three local authorities cited in the article that he references, and that includes Middlesbrough.”
Sir Simon, writing on X, formerly Twitter, said: “Welcome confirmation at @ukhomeoffice questions in @HouseofCommons that the Home Office is NOT procuring additional asylum accommodation in Middlesbrough – our town cannot and must not return to having the highest ratio of asylum seekers per head of population.”
