Reform UK councillors have vowed to oppose attempts to use the Isle of Wight for asylum accommodation after comments that all parts of the country should ‘play their part’ in the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers.
The comments were made by Prime Minister Andy Burnham during an appearance on GB News earlier this week, prompting a response from Reform UK’s group on the Isle of Wight Council.
Mr Burnham said:
“I do have to say that we cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers.
“I do believe all parts of the country need to work… to play their part. It’s a challenging issue. We’re working at it. We understand people’s concerns.”
In response, Councillor James Whelan, Central Rural representative and Reform UK Group Leader on the Isle of Wight Council, said his group would oppose attempts to use the Island as another location for asylum accommodation.
He argued that the Isle of Wight already faces significant pressure on housing, healthcare, social care and other public services, as well as what he described as an acute housing shortage.
No specific proposal to accommodate asylum seekers on the Isle of Wight was detailed in the comments provided.
Taking to social media earlier this week, Cllr Whelan, has said:
“The newly installed Labour Prime Minister appears to believe that because some areas have carried an unacceptable burden from asylum accommodation, places such as the Isle of Wight should now be expected to take their share. I fundamentally disagree.
“We should be asking why people who enter this country illegally are able to remain here for months or years at taxpayers’ expense in the first place. The priority should be to secure our borders, process claims rapidly and remove those who have no legal right to remain, not continually search for more communities in which to accommodate them.
“The Isle of Wight already faces severe pressures on housing, healthcare, social care and other public services. We have an acute housing shortage and an Island infrastructure that cannot simply absorb every additional demand imposed upon it from Whitehall.
“This is precisely where Reform UK takes a different view: stop managing illegal immigration and start stopping it.
“Genuine refugees should be treated with compassion and their claims dealt with quickly. But compassion cannot mean having no control over our borders, and it cannot mean expecting local communities to indefinitely absorb the consequences of multiple national government failures.
“At this time all can do is thank God for the Solent, the moat that protects us from this disastrous Labour Government!
“My position and the Reform UK Isle of Wight Group is clear: We would oppose attempts to use the Isle of Wight as another location for accommodating the consequences of uncontrolled illegal migration.
“The Government should secure the border and remove those with no right to remain, rather than simply moving the problem from one community to another.”
