Hassan came to the UK on a boat across the English Channel. Now he is sleeping rough on a Liverpool housing estate.
“Where should I go? What should I do?” he asks me, as he clears out his rain-soaked tent, which he’s pitched under some trees near to a row of semi-detached houses.
A sleeping bag he’s had since he left Calais, the last stop until Britain for more than 30,000 migrants this year, is ringing wet.
“This country is no good for asylum,” he says trying to pack his things into plastic bags.
“When you have a problem, you wait a long time for nothing.”
Hassan fled Iraq last year and travelled through Europe to reach Britain.
But his hopes of a new life have long faded.
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“I have no money. No anything,” he says.
His asylum application was rejected on a technicality, but he is able to reapply. With no phone and no address however, it seems impossible.
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A local resident spots us filming and walks quickly towards us, and we witness first hand why immigration is set to become a key issue in the next general election.
“This isn’t happening,” the resident says pointing at the tent angrily.
“We don’t want this around here. You’ve got all the neighbours worried. Imagine this is your house and your kids are playing in the garden, and you’ve got him camping here.
“You better get it moved tonight,” he shouts.
His anger is understandable. Hassan doesn’t want to be here.
But as the government has openly admitted, the asylum system in Britain is broken. This depressing scene on a housing estate brings that into clear focus.
We’ve come to Liverpool because the council here is pleading for the government to step in and help.
Liverpool City Council says it is dealing with an “unprecedented homelessness problem” and says a big part of that is a sudden influx of asylum seekers.
They blame the government’s move to accelerate the processing of asylum claims to clear the backlog by the end of the year.
When people are given refugee status, they are no longer eligible for asylum seeker accommodation – but there is nowhere to go.
Around £6m a year has been spent housing asylum seekers in hotels and hostels while claims are processed.
And earlier this month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government had reduced the backlog from 92,000 to 20,000.
Now cities like Liverpool say that has put them under “enormous pressure” as requests for housing are on the rise at a time when housing stock is already at a premium.
The city council told Sky News that it currently spends around £11m per year on asylum seekers and refugees in the region.
Nationally, there are 1.2 million people waiting for social housing, according to the charity Shelter.
Ewan Roberts, from Asylum Link, an organisation set up to offer help and advice to asylum seekers, says clearing the backlog has had negative knock-on effects.
“People are coming through the system so quickly now with leave to remain. They’re recognised as refugees, but there’s no accommodation for them.
“The government has pushed the burden on to somebody else.
“Whether that’s the voluntary sector or local authorities or other statutory homelessness services.
“They might have solved one problem, but they’ve created another.”
Alfadal, 31, has lived in the UK for four years. His 21-year-old wife Selma has recently been allowed to join him here under a family reunion visa.
But they are homeless because he claims the council say they are not a priority.
“I went to the train station. I sleep there,” he said.
“I don’t have any place to take my wife. I’m afraid for her.”
Government and Labour wrestle with asylum
Immigration is shaping up to be one of the key issues ahead of the general election and the government’s handling of the issue will be seen as critical.
Labour is facing the dilemma of being seen as tough enough by former red wall seats but also compassionate by the other wing of its supporters.
So far, Sir Keir Starmer has committed to lowering migration but has not given any specific target.
It has been a turbulent few weeks for the Conservative Party. The Supreme Court ruling that plans to send migrants to Rwanda were illegal was a major setback.
A government spokesperson said: “We have always met our legal obligations by providing support and accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
“As the legacy backlog reduces, we continue to work with local authorities to manage the impact of asylum decisions and support is available on moving on from asylum support accommodation through Migrant Help and their partners.”
“Through our Rough Sleeping Strategy, we will continue to work not just to reduce rough sleeping but to end it completely. Some £2bn have been provided to councils to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.”
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “Liverpool, like many local authorities, has been placed under immense pressure by the government’s decision to shift the burden from central to local government without proper planning and consultation.
“As a result we have written to the government to ask for additional help and support as well as co-operation to phase the decisions to enable us to find sustainable solutions.
“We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in our communities and have increased capacity in our frontline services to address these issues.
“Our current spend on asylum seekers and refugees is in the region of £11m per year.”
A woman and three other children managed to escape the property and are being treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: “At 1.08 this morning (5 May) police were called by the fire service to reports of a serious house fire on Kingsdale Drive, Bradford.
“A woman and three children managed to escape the property and were taken to hospital for treatment. Their injuries are not life-threatening.
“A fourth child was found inside the address and was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene,” police added.
“A scene is currently in place at the address and police are working with the fire investigators to establish the exact cause of the fire.”
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Rishi Sunak has urged Tories to stick with his leadership despite the Conservatives’ shock defeat in the West Midlands mayoral election, which capped a dire few days of results for the party.
The margin of victory was a cruelly tight 1,508 votes, and compounded Conservative disappointment as it followed another loss to Sadiq Khan in London, who secured a record-breaking third term as the capital’s mayor.
“People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour. Our fantastic new mayor Richard Parker stands ready to deliver a fresh start for the West Midlands,” Sir Keir said.
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7:02
‘Devastated’ Andy Street refuses to blame Sunak after West Midlands defeat
However, in an effort to win back those who had deserted his party over Labour’s stance on Gaza, he added: “I say directly to those who may have voted Labour in the past but felt that on this occasion that they couldn’t that across the West Midlands we are a proud and diverse community.
“I have heard you. I have listened. And I am determined to meet your concerns and to gain your respect and trust again in the future.”
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Labour suffered losses to independents and George Galloway’s Worker’s Party of Britain in areas with large Islamic populations as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas.
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3:02
Starmer speaks at East Midlands victory rally
But the party virtually swept the mayoral elections board across England, winning in Liverpool, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and in Greater Manchester, where Andy Burnham returned to power.
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The Tees Valley was the only remaining splash of blue left on the mayoral election map, where Lord Ben Houchen managed to cling to power despite a huge 14.1-point swing to Labour.
Lord Houchen’s victory was also mired by allegations he had sought to distance himself from Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party at large during his campaign.
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7:05
Sadiq Khan re-elected as London Mayor
Losing Mr Street, who is widely respected in the Tory Party and had an impressive track record of bringing investment into the West Midlands, is a body blow to the prime minister.
Despite the drubbing, Mr Sunak urged his party to stick with his leadership and his plan for government.
In a statement, he said: “It’s been disappointing of course to lose dedicated Conservative councillors and Andy Street in the West Midlands, with his track record of providing great public services and attracting significant investment to the area, but that has redoubled my resolve to continue to make progress on our plan.
“So we will continue working as hard as ever to take the fight to Labour and deliver a brighter future for our country.”
However, Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, was quick to lay the blame for Tory losses firmly at the door of Number 10.
But she said ousting Mr Sunak “won’t work”, adding: “The hole to dig us out of is the PM’s, and it’s time for him to start shovelling.”
She urged him to adopt “strong leadership, not managerialism” on tax, migration, small boats, and law and order.
But Mr Street took a different view, encouraging the party not to veer to the right.
Asked if he is worried the party is drifting to the right and over-emphasising the threat from Reform UK while “ignoring other voters”, the outgoing mayor told Sky News: “I would definitely not advise that drift.
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“The psychology here is really very straightforward, isn’t it? This is the youngest, most diverse, one of the most urban places in Britain, and we’ve done, many would say, extremely well over a consistent period,” Mr Street said.
“The message is clear: winning from that centre ground is what happens.”
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1:13
‘We will give this region a fresh start’ – Labour’s Richard Parker
Results are in from 106 of the 107 councils in England that held elections on 2 May, and Labour has won 1,140 seats, an increase of more than 200.
The Liberal Democrats beat the Tories into second place, winning 521 seats, up nearly 100.
The Tories were just behind on 513 seats, down nearly 400.
Tory incumbent Andy Street has suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election after a partial recount was ordered.
Labour’s Richard Parker beat Mr Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25% – to deliver a major blow to Rishi Sunak in the key electoral battleground after a hammering in the local elections.
With the race neck-and-neck, in the end it came down to the results in one borough – Labour-supporting Sandwell.
“This is the most important thing I will ever do,” Mr Parker said in his acceptance speech.
“I promise you that I will deliver jobs,” he added.
He told Sky News he would take buses “back into public control” and deliver the “largest programme of social housing we’ve had in this region for more than 40 years”.
And he thanked his predecessor, who he said had “led this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve great credit for that”.
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Mr Street told Sky News he was “personally devastated”, had “put my all into this”, and “genuinely believed we were making real progress across the region”.
He said it was “my campaign, totally”, adding: “I’m not going to try to push responsibility anywhere else. There’ll be no sloping shoulders from me.”
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He wished his successor “all strength and wisdom”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was a “phenomenal result” and “beyond our expectations”.
He added: “People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour.
“My changed Labour Party is back in the service of working people, and stands ready to govern.”
Ellie Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator, said it was a “significant victory”.
She added: “Right across the country people have voted for change and the message is clear – it’s time for a general election and a Labour government to get our country’s future back.”
These results will increase pressure on the prime minister, who had been hoping for a repeat of the success enjoyed by Conservative Ben Houchen who held on as the mayor of Tees Valley.
Sam Coates, Sky News’s deputy political editor, said he had seen messages from Conservative MPs’ WhatsApp group.
One from former cabinet minister Simon Clarke, whom Coates said “wants Rishi Sunak to leave”, said: “These results are awful and should be a massive wake-up call.
“If we fight the same campaign in a few months [in the general election] we’ll get the same outcome or rather worse.
“Reform UK standing more candidates will cause greater damage.”
The loss of either the Teesside or West Midlands mayoralties would give Tory rebels who want to change leader a “huge amount of fuel”, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said in the Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
Mr Street, who was seeking a third term in office, sought to distance himself from the Conservative brand during his campaign and instead ran on a personal platform.
Sky News recently revealed that Mr Street was sending out election literature with an endorsement from former prime minister Boris Johnson which urged people to “forget about the government”.
His campaign website also made no mention of Mr Sunak on its homepage and was coloured in green rather than Conservative blue.