Andy Burnham will 'push ahead with plans to move asylum seekers to middle-class areas despite higher cost to taxpayers'

Andy Burnham will push ahead with his plans to send asylum seekers to wealthier areas even if there's a higher cost for taxpayers, it has emerged.The Prime Minister has vowed to make sure arrivals are not placed only in the 'poorest communities' and insisted more middle-class areas need to 'play their part'.The Government is now reportedly considering raising the strict rent caps imposed on private-sector contractors for asylum housing which restrict contractors from proposing higher-cost properties, often found in middle-class communities. Raising the cap would allow more migrants to be moved to more expensive postcodes, with the PM said to be keen to pursue the plans 'as a point of principle' even if it costs more.Home Office figures show there were 97,519 people in receipt of asylum support at the end of March this year.Of these, 20,885 were in hotel accommodation while 3,866 were getting subsistence support only – i.e. solely receiving weekly money from the Government for basic living needs such as food, clothing and toiletries.Another 72,768 were in 'other' accommodation including 'dispersal' accommodation typically comprising flats or houses often set up as houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs).Analysis by the Daily Mail has revealed there are currently 17 local authority areas – including the Cotswolds, Derbyshire Dales, Malvern Hills, the New Forest and the Scottish Highlands – with no taxpayer-supported asylum seekers. Andy Burnham will push ahead with his plans to send asylum seekers to wealthier areas even if there's a higher cost for taxpayers, it has emerged Mr Burnham said on Tuesday he did not want a situation 'where it's only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers'.'I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part,' the PM added, as he was quizzed about local anger over plans for a former military base in Bicester, Oxfordshire, to provide accommodation for 1,250 male asylum seekers.Residents of Piddington – a tiny village of around 400 residents near to the proposed site – have voted to stage a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK as part of their protests against the proposals.Borders minister Anna Turley also defended the plans as she said there needed to be a 'fair and equitable system' for distributing asylum seekers across the country.She said areas such as Blackpool, where there are lower property prices, had already taken their 'fair share' of asylum seekers, which had put a 'huge burden' on communities and created 'real civil unrest'.The Telegraph reported that the Home Office could raise the asylum costs cap, which is based on rental values in different areas, for private-sector contractors.A Downing Street source told the newspaper: 'Andy feels that the current system is unfair, and as a point of principle, he wants to see a redress of the distribution.'We all want to see fewer people crossing to the UK and a decreased use of all asylum accommodation, but it needs to be fairer in the meantime.'He acknowledges that it would cost more money to do it more fairly, but that is what we need to do.' Tory MPs reacted with anger to the plans, with Dame Harriett Baldwin – the MP for West Worcestershire, which includes the Malvern Hills – saying her constituents would 'certainly not welcome thousands of male illegal asylum seekers into mass accommodation which does not actually exist here'.Joe Robertson, the Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, said Mr Burnham 'needs to choose locations which offer the most cost-effective accommodation in the best interest of taxpayers'.'Self-serving political choices which cost more would be wrong on every level,' he added.A Government spokesman said: 'We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into basic accommodation.'The number of asylum seekers receiving support is decreasing, and the number of asylum seekers in hotels has fallen by 35 per cent in the last year – and by 63 per cent from the peak in 2023. Overall asylum costs have already fallen by £1billion since the general election.'We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, working closely with local authorities, and listening to local concerns to reduce the impact on communities.'