Reform UK Sends Andy Burnham a Strong Message, Demanding One Thing About Illegal Boat Migrants Seeking Asylum in Britain
Reform UK has called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to give local councils more power over where asylum seekers are housed. The party says councils should be able to stop the Home Office from placing asylum seekers in their local communities if they do not want them there.
The call comes after new Home Office figures showed that, during the first 11 months of the government’s “one in, one out” migration agreement with France, slightly more asylum seekers arrived in the UK than were returned to France.
Between August 2025 and June 2026, 1,117 asylum seekers came to Britain from France through the agreement, while 1,087 people who had crossed the English Channel illegally were sent back to France. The scheme was introduced to reduce dangerous small boat crossings by allowing migrants who arrived illegally in the UK to be returned to France, while Britain accepted the same number of asylum seekers who applied through approved legal routes.
The issue has remained in the spotlight following several serious crimes involving some asylum seekers. Earlier this month, three men were sentenced over the rape of a woman on Brighton beach. Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, and Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, were each jailed for 21 years after being found guilty of repeatedly raping the woman. A third man, Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, who filmed the attack, was sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, said he had written to the Prime Minister with the support of leaders from 24 Reform-controlled councils. He said those councils represent more than 8.5 million voters and argued that local communities should have a greater say over where asylum seekers are placed.
Yusuf said the councils do not want asylum seekers being housed in their areas without local approval. He called on the Government to hand councils the authority to refuse Home Office plans to house asylum seekers in their communities.
The Government has said it is determined to reduce the use of asylum hotels and will do whatever it can to close them. At the same time, ministers are facing opposition to plans to move asylum seekers into former military sites instead.
Planning applications have been submitted for Ministry of Defence sites in Bicester, Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk, and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire. Together, these sites could accommodate up to 3,750 asylum seekers.
The Government is also considering extending the use of existing accommodation sites in Crowborough, East Sussex, until 2030, and Wethersfield, Essex, beyond 2027 as it continues to deal with pressure on the asylum system.
