Keir Starmer is facing calls from Labour MPs to scrap plans to put asylum seekers in new council homes, potentially forcing the Prime Minister into another embarrassing U-turn.
Around 200 local authorities have registered interest in a pilot scheme that would fund building homes or refurbishing derelict sites for asylum seekers.
They include Brighton and Hove, Hackney, Peterborough, Thanet and Powys.
But Sir Keir’s own MPs criticised the scheme for prioritising asylum seekers’ housing needs over Britons. Last year 1.3million families were on social housing waiting lists, up 3 per cent on 2024.
It comes as the Daily Mail found some of the councils signed up to the scheme are more likely to have homeless veterans on their streets than others.
Graham Stringer, Blackley and Middleton South Labour MP, said the plans are ‘unacceptable’ as there’s already a ‘shortage of council housing that should be going to local people’.
Another Labour MP, speaking anonymously, said that the ‘bonkers’ scheme ‘will go down awfully in Red Wall seats’ – traditionally Labour seats in the North of England challenged by Reform UK.
‘I’ve told the Home Office I’m against it and they need to U-turn on it in my seat…
‘My problem is they won’t become council houses for years and when you have … a waiting list of 10,000 people – they will feel asylum seekers will be prioritised – never mind the loss of houses in our area.’
Jonathan Brash, Labour MP for Hartlepool, said: ‘We have an acute shortage of council housing, with local families and key workers stuck on waiting lists or in temporary accommodation.
‘Any programme to build new social homes should be focused first and foremost on meeting that local need.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the Government is ‘so weak… they put illegal immigrants ahead of our own citizens’.
A Mail analysis found veterans are more likely to be homeless in over half of the councils signing up to the scheme than others.
According to Government figures, based on likelihood, Brighton and Hove, Thanet and Peterborough – all Labour run – are in the top 10 per cent of councils in England and Wales for veteran homelessness rates.
Of these, Brighton had the highest proportion of rough sleeping veterans, followed by Peterborough, then Thanet.
The Home Office plans to evict asylum seekers from hotels in springtime and move them to barracks, multiple occupation houses or the roughly 900 new homes expected under the scheme.
A Government spokesman said: ‘New council housing will not be used by asylum seekers under any circumstances.
‘This Government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well under way, with military sites brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.’
Councils spent almost £750million on social care for migrants last year after costs almost tripled in five years, the latest figures show.
Local authorities spent £134million on social care for adult migrants in 2024-25 – up from £50.6million five years ago but down from a peak of almost £191million in 2022-23.
Social care for asylum seekers cost £744million in 2024-25 in addition to more than £2billion each year spent on hotels and subsistence.
