The Isle of Wight Council could formally oppose significant new asylum accommodation being imposed on the Island without prior consultation, under a motion being put before councillors next week.
Reform’s Councillor James Whelan is calling for the authority to demand a meaningful say over any significant new asylum accommodation or dispersal arrangements proposed for the Isle of Wight.
The motion is due to be considered at a meeting of Full Council next Wednesday (16th September).
It calls on the Government to ‘restore effective control’ of the United Kingdom’s borders and argues that national immigration and asylum policies should not transfer unsustainable financial, housing or service pressures onto local authorities.
Under the proposals, the Isle of Wight Council would oppose the imposition of significant new asylum accommodation, dispersal arrangements or other centrally directed placements on the Island without meaningful prior consultation.
Any proposals should also be assessed for their potential impact on housing availability, adult and children’s social care, education, healthcare, community infrastructure, policing and community safety, transport, safeguarding and council finances, according to the motion.
Councillor Whelan’s motion highlights what it describes as the particular geographical, financial and infrastructure challenges facing the Isle of Wight. It also raises concerns about pressures on housing and says the conversion of residential properties into Houses in Multiple Occupation should be subject to appropriate democratic scrutiny.
If councillors support the motion, the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive would be asked to write to the Home Secretary and other relevant Government departments.
They would seek a commitment that the Isle of Wight Council would be consulted before any significant new asylum accommodation or dispersal arrangements were introduced on the Island.
The motion also calls for greater transparency about the local effects of national asylum and immigration policy wherever disclosure is legally permissible.
This would include information about the number of people being supported through council services, accommodation arrangements, additional costs incurred by the authority, Government funding received, pressures on statutory services and any significant proposed changes to accommodation or dispersal arrangements.
Councillor Whelan is also seeking a commitment from the Government to fully fund additional costs placed on the Isle of Wight Council as a direct consequence of national immigration and asylum policy.
The motion states that Island taxpayers and existing frontline services should not have to absorb those costs.
At the same time, it would reaffirm that the council will continue to meet its statutory, safeguarding and legal obligations.
Councillors are also being asked to reaffirm that decisions which significantly affect the Isle of Wight should respect local democratic accountability and that elected Island representatives should have a meaningful voice when national decisions have substantial consequences for Island communities.
Full Council will decide whether to support the motion when councillors meet on 16th September.
You need to protect your children, especially your daughters, stand up and fight against this disgusting scum.
The lowlife scum is the local drunks and druggies
born and bred on the island.
100%
You seem quite preoccupied with other people’s daughters. Is there something you need to tell us?
Is it hard work being so anxious about perceived threats that only exist in your imagination?
STFU, it’s people like you that are allowing the rape of Britain to continue.
Really Wokerati? Just nip over to x.com/Shunyaa00 and then come back and tell us all how the threat isn’t real.
Got my vote.
Won’t be getting mine, thuggery is not a party I would ever
vote for.
“Thuggery” – the new, must use word.
That thuggery are the ones who will end up saving your life, if they have any sense they won’t bother, but unfortunately we don’t think like you, and therefore would help, not that you deserve it.
There is no proposal to establish new asylum accommodation on the Island so why is the Council spending its time opposing something that is not proposed? I suppose it is the real alternative to addressing real problems.
That is very true.
Because elsewhere across the United Kingdom, our Liebour Government has not consulted the local council before implementing housing for illegal immigrants.
Our Liebour Government has made so many U-turns since it has been in Leadership; who is to say they won’t do another back-hander.
Locals on the Island are to be sceptical given Liebour’s past performance. I’m glad Reform’s Councillor James Whelan is calling for the authority to demand a meaningful say over any significant new asylum accommodation or dispersal arrangements proposed for the Isle of Wight. After all, isn’t that why the majority elected him into power? Representing the people of the Island.
Oh, if people think I’m being nasty about not wanting to see an influx of illegals on our little Island, there are plenty of places in the United Kingdom where there is plenty of ‘cultural enrichment’; go live there instead.
Thats just the point no one gets told they are shoving illegals in the local area, it just happens before anyone can even try to stop it. What with two tier policing going on, only us the locals will get arrested and charged if we even utter anything to do with stopping this. With “I tell porkies, Bacon” in charge, the man who wants school closed, we stand no chance.
They have my no vote in advance.
Oh for pete’s sake…every day they try to keep it alive for a sniff of power. Every day the same mindlessness. Every day the same nudges to incite xenophobia. Gotta have an out group, gotta have some minority to hate, gotta be able to start fights and watch on with pride.
THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE. Not the boogey man, not criminals, not long term unemployed, not after your daughters, not paedophiles, not drug addicts, not people who park on double yellow lines, not drunk drivers, not benefit fraudsters, not single mothers, not feral children. Not gay, not trans, not lefties, not righties, not disabled, not special needs…JUST PEOPLE. Human beings the same as you. There always have been and always will be rogue elements in every nation. We don’t get to claim superiority on that score.
The difference is that by comparison percentage wise there are far fewer in the above categories than there are already here. Not just on the island but country-wide.
This is where they come from, and why:
Eritrea: Currently the largest nationality group, accounting for roughly 16% to 18% of arrivals.
Sudan & Somalia: Migrants from East and Northeast Africa have nearly trebled recently, making up about 15% each.
Afghanistan: Consistently represents a significant portion (around 13%) of those crossing.
Iran & Iraq: Historically the most consistent origin countries since records began in 2018, though their overall percentage has slightly decreased relative to African nations.
Other Nations: Syria, Vietnam, Turkey, and Albania continue to see representation, though Albanian numbers dropped significantly following a 2022 bilateral fast-track return agreement with the UK.
Conflict and Civil War: Ongoing war in Sudan, prolonged instability in Somalia, and the aftermath of conflicts in Syria and Iraq force millions to flee their homes.
Political Repression and Authoritarianism: Dictatorial regimes and severe human rights abuses—such as indefinite forced conscription in Eritrea and intense political oppression in Iran—leave residents with few options.
The Taliban Resurgence: Following the withdrawal of allied forces from Afghanistan, a sharp rise in individuals fleeing Taliban persecution has sustained high numbers of Afghan arrivals.
Human Trafficking: A segment of arrivals includes victims of modern slavery and human trafficking networks.
This is a clue to their work ethic, attainment levels and determination to survive and succeed:
Higher Education: Surveys and data from frontline charities—such as Breaking Barriers—show that a large majority of the adult refugees they support (often over 70%) hold at least an undergraduate degree or equivalent higher education qualification. [1]
Postgraduate Degrees: A notable percentage (around one-quarter) often hold master’s degrees, PhDs, or other advanced postgraduate qualifications. [1]
Varying Backgrounds: While many possess professional or university backgrounds (reflecting people who had the resources or urgency to flee conflict from urban centers or professional classes), the broader asylum population is diverse. It includes individuals with vocational training, secondary schooling, or limited formal education, depending heavily on their specific country of origin (such as Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, or Pakistan).
Those without education due to poverty, war etc want one so badly they are willing to travel alone, often on foot a distance of 3,000 miles (yes, really) for the chance of getting one in England.
Does that sound much like they’ve heard the benefits system here is that good they’d swap their aspirations for the same levels of poverty that our people endure, and risk drowning to get a measly £338.58 for the under 25s?
We are not ‘full’; the 1% richest over here (UK) own over 50% of the land. Us hoi-poloi own just 5% between us. 94% of all land is not built on. We’re condensed because that’s how the 1% like it. Ghetto-style. If the majority of us are poor(ish) it’s because the 1% won’t pay the same taxes we all do as a percentage of income, therefore the only money available for the services WE need (they have no need for the NHS, schools, care homes etc) has to come from us. The goods we have been told we need inflate their wealth exponentially. Data analysed during the 2010s and early 2020s indicates that the wealth of the top 1% has grown at a much faster rate than that of the bottom 99%. The top 10% wealthiest now have at their disposal 43% of this countries combined money. Cash money, not assets. Did they work longer, harder for it than you did? No. They started with capital, and it then grew by itself. For the 99% the design is to never let us be able to get or grow capital.
This constant ‘blame the needy foreigner…they’re coming to take from you!’ serves only one purpose; it stops you looking for the real thieves, charlatans, con-men, liars and opportunists.
It certainly ain’t the lad who’s just walked 3,000 miles to get here, is it?
You are defining legal immigration.
Not those that enter illegally of which is reported only 1% are genuine asylum seekers.
Exactly, they deliberately conflate legal with illegal immigration because that all they’ve got left. Anyone with good postgraduate qualifications, you know the doctors and the engineers they keep taking about will get a visa.
Don’t be so dim. Do you honestly think I don’t know what I’m talking about?
A post-grad means nothing in a country which is under civil war conditions…neither side of the militia is going to NOT kill you because you’re educated, you utter fool.
There is no illegal immigration, only illegal entry. The only IMMIGRATION anyway is by definition legal. Being grated right to remain status makes it so, no matter how they entered to country. Not just this country, but every country.
I’ve just realised you might be thinking of those who’ve been given work visas from places like India and Zimbabwe to shore up the NHS and care homes. Yes, that’s a whole different matter and does not come into the figures and facts I gave earlier. They represent an extra 400,000 people. If they had tried to claim asylum, they would have been refused.
You do understand that when you make unsubstantiated claims like “only 1% are genuine asylum seekers”, that someone will seek to verify the veracity of your claim?
Here’s the reality:
Jan 2018 to Dec 2025
Small boat arrivals 187,779
Asylum claims 178,845
Granted refugee status/other leave 79,589
Refused 53,305
79,589 of 187,779 is over 42%
Your 1% claim is simply untrue.
Whether you are misinformed and regurgitating disinformation unchecked or being deliberately deceitful is a matter for your conscience.
Nice one, thank you. On appeal the numbers rise to closer to 60%.
I think most of the people here simply believe 3rd, 4th, 5th hand information which gets more wrong on each repetition. They don’t check because they don’t really understand. It’s fear of the unknown, largely, coupled with a lifetime of realising that people in power have lied in the past. Base psychological logic and wishful thinking tells them that this time, someone (reform etc) is telling the truth and so crave to be able to believe in something as their safe place. It’s no different from gambling…the machine always wins, but still people feed it.
Your figures are OK but the 53,305 Refused asylum have not been deported and just disappear into their respective communities who then shield them.
Wrong.
Do you anti-migrant types ever check the veracity of your claims before spewing them into the void?
Or do you just expect people to believe your BS?
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2026/how-many-people-are-returned-from-the-uk
Many have the right to appeal, and do so. Refusal is not the end of the road, especially if they have no money, no job, no passport and CAN’T leave. After appeal rights are exhausted they would be removed….except they still have no passport or travel documents and often have to wait until checks are made in order to issue them. Those checks for deportation often throw up the evidence that wasn’t there for the original claim, but should have been. If that happens, they are allowed to reapply, often successfully.
No, that is where the people on boats are coming from. Legal immigration is where people who are rich and settled decide to move abroad, lock stock and barrel. Like we might if we chose to move to Australia.
There are no legal routes for asylum seekers. It why sometimes sports people competing here (from places like China, Russia etc) go into an embassy here on the last day to claim asylum. Outsyaing their visa is also illegal. Until they are processed they are also here illegally. Illegal simply means they don’t have documents. It doesn’t mean they’ve done anything wrong or are bad people.
And I don’t know where you get your figures or news from of 1% …the rate is roughly 60%, rising to 78% on appeal. In 2022 (takes years to process claims cos the gov’t was crap then) there were about 45,000 granted right to remain. Pales in comparison to the 230,000 people granted RTR from Ukraine because of war, or the 150,000 from political unrest and persecution from Hong Kong.
This! 100% correct. The UK enjoyed a boom in the 50’s and 60’s “you have never had it so good”. (Macmillan, 1957). This was the direct result of the Windrush generation arriving here and building a better Britten for us all. All the people, including the young men that come here, risking it all, will gladly rebuild the UK, will gladly fight for us, all for the price of citizenship. They are the answer, not the problem!
I LOVE YOU!! Would love to meet, like minded…
Wouldn’t be at all surprised if you already know me. In fact, I think we probably have more of a connection that either of us realised.
There is no plan to do what the councillor is arguing against. This is shouting at the clouds.
I’d be more comfortable if it was just a silly little man shouting at the clouds.
Unfortunately it’s a silly little man shouting at the racists, xenophobes and assorted bigots that support Reform UK and is the kind of stupidity that motivates the angrier, more violent of their supporters to play dress-up in black with balaclavas and pretend to be vigilantes.
Reform UK is a dangerous organisation. One where rich establishment figures use understandably frustrated working class people to spread their hatred.
The enemy of the working class is not overseas migrants. The enemy of the working class is the arrogant establishment figures lying about migrants being the enemy.
This isn’t asylum nor is it immigration, I is illegally crossing borders to purposely avoid the correct authorities. These MEN are throwing away their passports before they pay thousands to get on these boats, they don’t need help, they’re not fleeing war, they are economic cretins that want to destroy the Western world from within and have been doing so for decades now. There is no discussion, we should just clearly say NO!
There’s plenty of discussion, especially with someone like you who has managed to get all facts on the matter completely and utterly wrong. Verifiable wrong. Yet has the gall to name himself Truth Seeker!
The MEN come because the journeys to Calais are incredibly harsh. From Africa they might cross the Sahara which takes many lives, then Libya, which is lawless; no woman could cross without being raped. From the Middle East the journey is across the Balkans where night-time temperatures can be minus 20 and the borders are rife with beatings and human rights abuses. Few women and children would survive these horrors. Many families will not risk their daughter’s safety on a journey to Europe. People trafficking, sexual abuse, exploitation and violence is far more prevalent for a woman or girls travelling as a refugee, so the men of the family take on the duty, claiming asylum if they survive to bring their family over safely.
If the men can get here, they can then apply for their families to join them. They then send the money they’ve earned to get them out by plane if they can. Not all countries would allow their people to leave, even by plane, and that is why there are some children and women who get here having survived the passage. try or die, it’s better than remaining there. Many women and children don’t survive, but it does depend on where they’ve come from and how long it’s taken.
Has it not occurred to you to wonder why every single one of them are thin?
Let’s have a think. Life is shit here, can’t afford a nice car, Maccy’Ds are getting so expensive I think I’ll start walking. I’ve got a coat, a second pair of shoes but won’t be able to carry much. I’ll get work on the way and see the sights. All I have to do is keep under cover in darkness in case I’m shot/bludgeoned/kidnapped/tortured. Happy days, what fun. I’ll nip across the Sahara and play in the sand (all 1,000 miles of it). Hope the water doesn’t run out though but at least it won’t be so heavy to carry. Whooppee I survived the blistering sun followed by the freezing cold nights (50 during the day, zero at night) AND the scorpions didn’t get me either! I’m clearly on a roll. If I can just get to Morocco and find work, I can earn enough money to cross the sea on a boat to reach Europe. Bit lawless in Morocco so I’ll have to keep my wits about me….and that’s just the authorities. Don’t want to get beaten up when I’m already so weak by the border thugs. Nice bloke took pity on me and helped me escape the beating…hoorah for him. He reckons he can get me across the water to save me having to scale the barbed wire and get cut to pieces just to reach Spanish mainland. Nope. he took my money and scarpered. Try again a different way. Nope, that boat sank but I somehow made it.
A year later, having lived out of bins, dead animals and hiding in forests, calling nobody a friend out of fear of harm/exploitation etc I finally reach Calais having travelled through every country with the same animosity and lack of compassion because I don’t speak their language…but I was taught basic English in school….everyone was, it’s universal.
Now, if I could just get a boat……
Easy. Don’t know why you don’t give it a try mate.
Anyone supporting these immigrants is a traitor yo hhe English way of life.
Somthing my relatives fought, and died to protect, not so very long ago.
Patriot or traitor? pick a side.
The war is unfortunately being delivered to us by hhe boatload.
Defund the floating uber service too.
No, traitors are those who refuse to take on board the knowledge and understanding that a minimum of 11 years of free state education should have afforded them. Abuse of the country that fed them. Abuse of freedom they are born into. Not one of you would be able to pass the citizenship test for entry into the UK.
One of my comments in reply to Wokerati’s “what immigration did for us” completely disappeared so it’s reproduced here below.
You keep listing things that arrived through trade, conquest, empire and legal settlement over centuries, then pretend that is the same as the argument today over hotels, HMOs and the dispersal of people who have arrived outside a legal route at vast public expense.
Legal migrants who apply for a visa in their home country are not the same as people who paid gangs to cross the English Channel after already reaching a safe EU country.
Why do you deliberately lump legal migrants and illegal arrivals together? Because if you kept them separate the council motion would look like what it is, a simple request for consultation and impact assessment so that Island taxpayers are not faced with an annual £40 million asylum bill like they are in Kent.
The government are committing treason by allowing illegal criminal immigrants to invade our country. They are not refugees and they are not asylum seekers. Open your eyes and you will see the results off what has been happening in other cities. It’s nothing to do with racism, it’s about protecting our families and our country from invasion, exactly the same as we had to do during WW2
Look up the definition of treason. This is not war. What you’ve just said constitutes hate crime and is a criminal offence. ILLEGAL. You are ILLEGAL. You are behaving ILLEGALLY.
They ARE refugees and asylum seekers otherwise they would not EVER be grated right to remain.
IF some are criminals, it’s because we no longer have access to the databases used to distribute information because prats like you were told by Ukip (now called Reform) that leaving the EU would be a wonderful idea. They knew it wouldn’t be. They banked on it in order to stoke tensions and get into power. EXACTLY the same playbook Hitler used. And it doesn’t stop with migrants, does it?
For gods sake LEARN.
A Reform moron’s opinion can be safely disregarded.
Interesting how Wokerati and Sunshine operate as a tag team. One drops the prepared essays, dinner plate lectures, grant rate percentages and the “they’re just people” line, the other arrives to clap, inflate the numbers on appeal and explain that everyone else is too thick to check sources. Neither one of them answers the actual question; consultation, housing, services and who pays.
They just talk down to Islanders as if asking for a say were proof of stupidity. Odd timing also, this double act has been all over these comments like magic since the landings at Eastney marina.
Once again…legal migrants who apply for visas are not the same as illegal dinghy arrivals; even Labor (their spelling) governments in Australia treat that as a different thing. If they’ve got a cogent argument on make on Whelan’s motion then go ahead. The lecture and belittle routine isn’t working.
I really do not know why anyone with half a brain would waste oxygen replying to these wankers: sunshine; EiE and his many disguises sad mutha; wightlink, who has morphed into wokenutsmaserati and worst of all “Richard”, a real dick who believes these illegals will fight for Britten (he probably means Britain, but the poor fucker can’t even spell).
Just leave them to talk to each other, for to debate with an idiot will bring you down to their level of idiocy and they will beat you with their vast “experience”.
He’s only got half a brain?? Poor sod, no wonder then!
I did answer all of those things in my (un) prepared essays. Looks rather like because it wasn’t words of one syllable you missed it.
No council gets consultation, it’s government decision and legal law. We (all countries) have a duty of acceptance under the 1951 refugee convention. I told you, Wokerati also told you. Helen Highwater told you. You chose not to look it up for yourself. If you mean consultation by way of councillors being able to stoke the tensions even higher by winding up the thick with emotive language over the fact that these people have to be housed somewhere, screeching ‘not in my backyard’ seems a little silly…even for Reform councillors. Paying through the nose for profiteering hotels is not the answer, purpose built accommodation is. This is an island, space is at a premium except for the vast tracts of land owned by the Seely-esques. And they ain’t budging up. It’s not likely. We have a spare prison wing yes, but housing innocent asylum seekers in a prison would go down just as well as the prison-hulk ship did. Highly unlikely. Even Reform councillors must have followed that logic?
Housing. Well yes, but as I pointed out, only 6% of total UK land is built on. There’s room for all of us. Just not the political will to do what’s needed. Mustn’t upset the rich lobbyists and party donors. And that goes for services too, which brings us neatly to the last point of costs.
Currently, no council foots the bill for asylum seekers, not their housing costs, hotel costs or pittance to live on. It’s a ring-fenced, set aside fund and yes it comes from general taxation. Not from your council tax, and the same in every country. It could easily be reduced significantly by speeding up the process to reduce the massively expensive legal costs which far outweigh the actual support of the immigrant costs, or not entering quick fix schemes to appease the xenophobic that costs billions. IF granted RTR they work and pay tax like the rest of us.
However…I also pointed out that wealth inequality and tax avoidance schemes of the mega rich keep US ALL in perpetual poverty. In effect, we all pay proportionately MORE for everything we need that any of them. Our goods and services cost the same as theirs, yet they pay less tax into the pot. It’s estimated (just on the wealth they’ll admit to) that a 2% wealth tax would generate extra income of £24bn a year. Enough to build houses, provide the needed services and infrastructure, stabilise the low income threshold and eradicate the shocking number that 1 in 5 people now are under that threshold. Reform oppose it. Party of the people? I don’t think so.
Asking for a say is not what Reform are doing. It’s dressed up as that to incite you to get behind them. You’re poor (relatively, we all are, and it’s a struggle) and the squeeze is on. But the same as Brexit, which was marketed as the opportunity at last to change the status quo and bring better times for all sectors of the community (how’s that going for us??), chasing the nasty, illegal immigrants away won’t make a blind bit of difference to us, our lives or our finances because THEY (like the EU) WERE NEVER the problem. Inequality was. Is.
And I (can’t speak for anyone else) have been all over the comments because they are inflammatory, often illegal, disgusting, shameful, inhuman, based on bullshit and trumped up fear and instantly led to nigh on witch hunts of emergency services, groups of Pakistani cricketers getting off a coach and incitement to violence for anyone disgreeing with the sentiment on here and elsewhere. Including me. One comment even said arm yourselves with guns and shoot at the boats. Maybe with children in, like the Eastney boat was. Indiscriminately of course, oops, soz. I stand up for those who can’t defend themselves even if I stand alone.
One last thing…if you don’t have a problem with migrants with visas then housing and pressure on services isn’t the issue after all. The illegality of the entry? So if we change that by law and suddenly make it a legal way of travelling here (sort the paperwork once here) you’d all be fine then? Ok, we’ll do that. After all, that’s exactly how we do it already.