Ashfield MP slams Home Secretary on Asylum Accommodation and Community Safety

Reform UK Member of Parliament for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, has written a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP to slam the Government for putting British people at risk by housing asylum seekers in accommodation across Britain. The letter states Lee Anderson believes the number one priority of the government should be to keep its citizens safe, but by dispersing thousands of unvetted foreign men across the country and allowing them to freely roam the streets the Government have failed in their duty. He particularly highlights the disgraceful situation now facing women and girls in Britain who now shamefully are forced to walk the streets in fear. Enough is enough

Lee Anderson MP's letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP on housing for asylum seekers.

Lee Anderson wrote:

"Dear The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP,

RE: Asylum Seeker Housing

I am writing to you as Home Secretary regarding the selection of locations for the housing of asylum seekers. This issue continues to be of deep concern to my constituents and the wider British public.

In April 2025, I received correspondence from Minister for Border Security & Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP, relating to the allocation of asylum accommodation. The letter I received however has left me with several questions I want to raise directly with you as the Secretary of State.

The letter stated the Home Office has a duty to support asylum seekers by ensuring they are housed in safe, secure and suitable accommodation and are treated with dignity while their claims are considered. I would like to ask what is ‘safe, secure and suitable’ about hotels in the middle of residential areas where unknown, unchecked foreign men are allowed to come and go as they please. Will the government also consider extending the same level of ‘dignity’ to the ordinary communities they are forcing to tolerate dangerous asylum accommodation.

The letter goes on to say the Home Office does not publicly comment on individual hotels that are being used for asylum seekers, quote, ‘for the safety of asylum seekers’. What about the safety of the British people? What about the women and girls who have to live next door to men with, let’s be honest, backwards medieval views towards women. Why do the government prioritise the safety of unvetted illegal immigrants ahead of that of the general public? I believe the number one duty of a government is to keep its own citizens safe. And on this issue, you are failing spectacularly.

Why do we consistently see reports in the media of asylum seekers implicated in sexual attacks? Within the last week alone we have seen media reporting an asylum seeker sexually assaulted a teenage girl in Weymouth, an asylum seeker charged with sexual assault of a schoolgirl in Epping and now in my own constituency of Ashfield an asylum seeker has been charged with rape after a sexual assault in a park. Our women and girls are not safe anymore. Enough is enough. I do not want these illegal migrants in Ashfield, or anywhere in my country.

The letter from April 2025 pathetically stated the Home Office also refuse to publicly comment on individual hotels for the safety of local communities. Let me be clear. Refusing to tell local residents when asylum seekers are placed in their neighbourhood does NOT make them safer. What would make them safer is deporting every single person who breaks into our country illegally.

I, and millions of ordinary British citizens, would like answers to the following points:

• What criteria do you use to determine if a proposed location for asylum accommodation is safe, secure and suitable?

• Why does the Government deem locations in residential areas in close proximity to women and children as safe, secure and suitable?

• Do the Government notify the local authority and constituency MP when asylum seekers are housed in co-living or private rental accommodation?

• Does the Government accept housing asylum seekers in the community poses a safety risk to women and girls?

The issues I raise are of profound concern not just to my own constituents, but to ordinary people up and down this nation. Will the Government for once, please be honest with the public. No more slogans. No more spin. Just tell me and the millions of concerned British citizens the straight, honest truth.

Finally, I would like to end with the Home Office’s own words. Angela Eagle MP told me in April “the demand for asylum accommodation is volatile”. Will the Home Secretary agree with me that the true volatile situation is the one they have created by forcing women and girls to dread walking the streets for fear of sexual attack by an asylum seeker?

Yours Sincerely,

Lee Anderson MP"