Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to implement a “fairer” system of accommodation for asylum seekers, despite uproar from communities across Britain.
The Home Secretary said Labour wanted to move to a “mixed model” of asylum accommodation, insisting “no one type of community is bearing the brunt”.
This would include the use of homes of multiple occupancy (HMOs), large military sites, plus medium-sized buildings such as old student apartments and dispersal housing such as bedsits.
Ms Mahmood was asked about asylum seekers in her own Birmingham Ladywood constituency, one of the poorest in the country.
She told The Times: “A change in the population, the demographic and in the housing in which asylum seekers are often housed and the transient nature of that population does have an impact on communities.
“You’re talking to someone who’s had asylum hotels in my constituency, and lots of dispersal accommodation in my own patch and my own city as well. I know these issues well, I know how residents feel about them.
“I get it, I understand that these are things that worry people and I get where they’re coming from. The people in better off parts of the country, really the issues aren’t that different to people who I represent in my patch.”
“You’ve got to get a fair spread and what we are doing with the new model of asylum accommodation and the future of asylum accommodation is think carefully about how you have a fair spread that doesn’t end up being in one community or one type of community.”
Plans to house more than 1,000 asylum seekers at an ex-military base in the village of Piddington in Oxfordshire were met with protests and labelled “illogical” in terms of security and cost by local councillor Mike Nixon.
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Top GCSE grades rise again as boys close gender gap to narrowest on record
The highest GCSE grades have risen once again as boys continue to close the gender gap on girls.
Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have received GCSE grades and technical awards today to help them progress on to sixth form, college or training.
Figures showed 22 per cent of UK entries were awarded the top grades, at least a 7 or an A grade, this year, up by 0.1 percentage points on last year, when 21.9 per cent achieved the top grades.
Overall, nearly a quarter (24.4 per cent) of girls’ GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 7/A compared with almost a fifth of boys’ entries (19.6 per cent): a 4.8 percentage point gap, down from a difference of 5.1 last year.
Students open their GCSE results at Llanishen High School, WalesGETTY
Labour torn apart over ‘absurd’ guide for asylum seekers on ‘how not to rape women’ in scathing takedown: ‘Ridiculous!’
Richard Holden has launched a scathing attack on the Labour Government after the Home Office released a document for asylum seekers, guiding them on how “not to rape women”.
Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Transport Secretary hit out at the booklet, declaring it is an “absurd” and “ridiculous document” which states the “blindingly obvious”.
Describing the “serious crime” of rape, the document describes what consent is: “In the UK, both people must say ‘yes’ to sex. This is called consent.”
The information made clear it is still rape if you are “married to the person or in a relationship” and if a person “agreed once but changed their mind”.
Sir Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff says working in Downing Street was ‘unbearable’
Sue Gray resigned due to the “intense commentary” around her position | GETTYSir Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff has said working in No10 was “definitely unbearable” in her first interview since resigning.
Baroness Sue Gray has spoken about how briefing wars inside the Government were “very, very difficult” and led to fears someone was recording “everything you say”.
Lady Gray, who was the most senior adviser in the Labour administration before her departure in 2024, said she was “disappointed” that Sir Keir did not do more to tackle briefings against her to journalists.
She made the comments to former Labour frontbencher Ed Balls on his Political Currency podcast, in her first interview since she resigned as chief of staff almost two years ago.
Asked about the briefings against her, she said they had started while Labour was in opposition, where she would “read about things that I would have said or not said”, which continued on into government.
She told Mr Balls: “I had always taken a view as a civil servant and actually as a special adviser that you know you should be able to speak freely in rooms. I couldn’t recall those sort of discussions being briefed out.
“Yet here I found myself, you know, stories about supposedly trying to move Morgan McSweeney to the back of the building. Actually, that was a genuine, ‘I can’t believe so many of you are going to sit in this small room, let’s find a better room for you’.”
She continued: “It just got to the point where you know everything you say, you feel is somebody is recording it.”
Senior Conservative takes aim at Reform’s Robert Jenrick over immigration policy
A senior Conservative has taken aim at former colleague Robert Jenrick as he blasted Reform’s treasury spokesman’s time as Immigration Minister.
Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden told GB News: “We’ve got to detain and deport within a week.
“That’s why Conservative policy under Kemi Badenoch is to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights, because the truth is that without doing that, we cannot get people out of our country.
“Labour has also been talking about about moving asylum seekers around to different parts of the country.
“I’m old enough to remember when Robert Jenrick was Immigration Minister, talking about how he was doing so well at setting up all these new asylum hotels around the country to ensure that people were being dispersed.
“We don’t want to see people dispersed. We want to see people detained and deported. That’s what has to happen.”
Lucy Powell hopes for ‘bigger reconciliation’ in Royals after Harry and Meghan announcement
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are returning to Britain | GETTYLucy Powell said she hopes that Harry and Meghan’s move back to Britain will be “part of a bigger reconciliation” for the royal family.
The Education Secretary told LBC: “I think that the vast majority of your listeners will welcome that news and – they obviously are not working royals anymore and want to come back to this country.
“I assume because we do have great schools, great education, that’s why many people do return to this country and choose this country to bring up their children in.
“I hope that this is all part of a bigger reconciliation for the family because you know the royal family is very important to this country and to our reputation around the world, and you know I for one think it’s great to have Harry and Meghan and their family back here.”