Clearing asylum backlog ‘created another crisis’ as refugees left homeless, charities say
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.
“I have no money. No anything,” he says.
Nick Martin speaking to Hassan, who has had his asylum application denied
His asylum application was rejected on a technicality, but he is able to reapply. With no phone and no address however, it seems impossible.
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.
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Huge rise in refugees sleeping rough after Home Office cuts notice period
Selma, a refugee who’s come here from Sudan on a family reunion visa and is now homeless
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.
Asylum Link Merseyside’s centre manager Ewan Roberts
“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.”
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Alfadal, 31, who is homeless and sleeps with his wife at a train station
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.
But in response, the prime minister published emergency legislation that would declare Rwanda a safe country for asylum seekers and push through their controversial deportation policy.
Rishi Sunak has faced a row within the Tories over his Rwanda bill, with some calling for it to override the ECHR
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.”
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A group of refugees and asylum seekers waiting to get housing advice at Asylum Link Merseyside, Liverpool
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 member of rap trio Kneecap was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at court this morning, charged with allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Demonstrators waving flags and holding banners in support of the rapper greeted him with cheers as he made his way into Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The rapper is mobbed by fans and media as he arrives at court. Pics: PA
Supported by his Kneecap bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, it took the rapper more than a minute to enter the building as security officers worked to usher him inside through a crowd of photographers.
Fans held signs which read “Free Mo Chara”, while others waved Irish and Palestinian flags.
As the hearing got under way, O hAnnaidh confirmed his name, date of birth and address, with the court hearing an Irish language interpreter would be present.
During a previous hearing, prosecutors said the 27-year-old is “well within his rights” to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but said the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town was a “wholly different thing”.
O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain (pictured, centre) and JJ O Dochartaigh are supporting O hAnnaidh. Pic: Reuters
Who are Kneecap?
Kneecap put out their first single in 2017 and rose to wider prominence in 2024 after the release of their debut album and an eponymously titled film – a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and their fight to save the Irish language.
The film, in which the trio play themselves and co-star alongside starring Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, won the BAFTA for outstanding debut earlier this year, for director and writer Rich Peppiatt.
Last year, they won a discrimination case against the UK government after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was business secretary.
They are known for songs including H.O.O.D, Fine Art, and Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.
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A council has won its bid to temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in Essex.
Epping Forest District Council sought an interim injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.
A government attempt to delay the application was rejected by the High Court judge earlier on Tuesday.
The interim injunction now means the hotel has to be cleared of its occupants within 14 days.
Somani Hotels said it intended to appeal the decision.
Several protests have been held outside the hotel in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.
Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
At a hearing last week, barristers for the council claimed Somani Hotels breached planning rules because the site is not being used for its intended purpose as a hotel.
Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said the problem was “getting out of hand” and “causing great anxiety” to local people.
He said the hotel “is no more a hotel [to asylum seekers] than a borstal to a young offender”.
File pic: PA
Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels Limited, said a “draconian” injunction would cause “hardship” for those in the hotel, arguing “political views” were not grounds for an injunction to be granted.
He also said contracts to house asylum seekers were a “financial lifeline” for the hotel, which was only 1% full in August 2022, when it was open to paying customers.
Protesters and counter-demonstrators outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
The hotel housed migrants from May 2020 to March 2021, then from October 2022 to April 2024, with the council never instigating any formal enforcement proceedings against this use, Mr Riley-Smith said.
They were being placed there again in April 2025 and Mr Riley-Smith said a planning application was not made “having taken advice from the Home Office”.
At the end of the hearing last week, Mr Justice Eyre ordered that Somani Hotels could not “accept any new applications” from asylum seekers to stay at the site until he had made his ruling on the temporary injunction.
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