Immigration minister says poorer areas have taken ‘fair share’ of asylum seekers – UK politics live

Anna Turley backs up Andy Burnham’s suggestion that affluent areas should house more asylum seekers in futureAndy Burnham made his comment yesterday suggesting more asylum seekers should be housed in more affluent areas in response to questions about plans to house up to 1,250 people in a former military base near Piddington, a tiny village in Oxfordshire. Residents are strongly opposed.In interviews this morning, Anna Turley, the immigration minister, defended the plan, saying “they’re not going to be in the village” and that, although the asylum seekers would be able to leave, they would have everything they needed on site.The reality is, this is a military base that is outside the village. It’s self-contained. People there will be managed and processed properly with the services that they need there on site. So we are looking to reduce the impact on local communities.We’ll continue to negotiate with them.“The justice secretary last year put in over £700m of extra money to support probation services. They’ve also had a pay increase this year. Continue reading...