𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Conservatives have vowed to axe “free and discounted leisure services” for asylum seekers ahead of the May 7 council elections. Kemi Badenoch’s party says that no council under Conservative control will “seek or hold City of Sanctuary accreditation”. The Conservatives say councils have provided asylum seekers with services ranging from free haircuts to free pilates sessions. The party claims multiple “councils have created roles, strategies and action plans specifically focused on embedding a culture of welcome for asylum seekers, regardless of their immigration status”.

Local authorities can pursue a “Council of Sanctuary” award by engaging with the charity City of Sanctuary UK. This process is designed to ensure councils help create a “welcoming environment for people seeking sanctuary in local communities” and protect their rights.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Families are struggling to make ends meet, but Labour’s answer is higher taxes to bankroll activist causes and pet projects. Labour councils are deliberately engineering workarounds to funnel taxpayer money to people who have no legal entitlement to it, while telling their own staff not to cooperate with immigration enforcement. They are using the machinery of local government to undermine the laws of the land. Conservatives will put a stop to it.”

The Tories claim councils have openly undermined government immigration policy and have pooled government grants to fund sanctuary schemes. The party opposes treating asylum seekers as a “priority group in defiance of decisions made by Parliament about their entitlement to public support”.

The Conservatives pledge that if they win control of a council from Labour or the Liberal Democrats, they will “refocus resources” away from “asylum seeker-specific programmes and towards services for the whole community”. They also say they will “prevent councils from instructing staff to avoid lawful immigration enforcement activity” and “increase the salary threshold for skilled worker and family visas to ensure that anyone who comes to this country is able to support themselves and their families without recourse to the state”.

Shadow Local Government Secretary Sir James Cleverly said cash spent on a “Refugee Week celebration or a politically driven grant scheme for illegal immigrants is a pound not spent fixing a pothole, supporting the community, or keeping a library”.

He added: “Labour in local government always ends up with money drained into political gimmicks while the basics of local government are neglected. Labour and Lib Dem councils remain obsessed with distracting, divisive showboating rather than doing the hard work that would improve the community.

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson fired back: “The Conservatives are out of ideas, out of touch and soon to be out of office in many councils across the country. After mishandling council finances and failing to deliver change for communities, many will be turning to the Liberal Democrats this May.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch’s Tory party left our borders open, allowed asylum claims to pile up and let asylum hotel use skyrocket. They should be apologising, not lecturing others on how to fix their mess.

“This Labour Government is taking decisive action to bear down on small boat crossings and restore control of our borders. We have already stopped over 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the Channel since the General Election, and removed or deported nearly 60,000 people with no right to be here.

“But we are going further – removing the incentives that draw people into dangerous crossings and ramping up removals, so the system is fair, controlled and works in the national interest.”