𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

David Simmonds, a Conservative MP whose constituency is in Hillingdon said that “local taxpayers are picking up the tab for government failings.” He blamed “Starmer’s disastrous Chagos deal” which he said “not only gives away sovereign territory and taxpayer billions” but also leaves Chagossians “fleeing to the UK” to be supported by “local councils with no government plan or resourcing”.

The Chagossians, descendants of islanders expelled by Britain in the 1960s to make way for a US airbase, were recently granted the right to settle in the UK, but councils claim ministers failed to prepare for the influx. Since 2022, Chagossians have been able to apply for British Citizenship under the Nationality and Borders act, which has enabled some of the recent influx.

Yet despite the skyrocketing costs, Labour Ministers have said officials can only claim back funding for the first ten days after Chagossians arrive. The council says this is inadequate, with many families needing support for weeks or months until longer term arrangements, like Universal Credit, come in.

This means the high majority of the cost will fall on local services like housing and social care, in a borough that, as of May this year, was already accommodating one in every ten asylum seekers in the country.

Hillingdon is already shouldering the burden of funding hundreds of asylum seekers who flood through the airport. The Chagos bill comes on top of a pre-existing £5 million asylum shortfall in the Council’s budget, equal to Hillingdon’s entire annual spent for libraries and culture. Over five years the gap is predicted to balloon to £11.3 million, leaving local taxpayers footing the bill.

One senior official said it was “unacceptable that a national responsibility should be funded by Hillingdon residents.”

The Home Office and the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government have been approached for comment.

With more families due to land this week, officials warned the crisis will only get worse, with one council source saying its “Labour’s habit to make grand promises but leave local councils to clear up the mess.”