Andy Burnham has sparked fury with his latest comments about housing illegal migrants. The prime minister has said middle-class families should "play their part" by accepting asylum seeker accommodation near their homes, claiming arrivals should not just be placed in the "poorest communities".
Piddington Site Plan
It comes after the announcement that Piddington, a village in Oxfordshire with a population of around 400, could be the site of accommodation for 1,250 male migrants at a neighbouring former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site. Burnham's remarks come after the number of Channel crossings passed the 3,000 mark since he came into office, following the arrival of the "mega-dinghy" on Monday (August 10), carrying 230 people.
TalkTV Presenter's Reaction
Lashing out at the Labour leader, TalkTV presenter Ian Collins fumed: "He's making this sound like we're all part of a national effort here. It's all we've all got to do our bit, some sort of postwar kind of community responsibility. Why do we have to play our part to prop up government ineptitude?"
Former MP's Critique
Former Conservative MP Nigel Collins issued his own scathing assessment of the situation, arguing that Burnham is failing to tackle the direct issue of stopping the boats. He remarked: "Absolutely spot on. What we want is the government to do its part. We shouldn't have to be told that areas which normally would not attract illegal immigrants coming in or be placed there, for obvious reasons, where many of these rural areas have absolutely no facilities whatsoever."
He continued: "Part of the problem is that the prime minister is looking at the problem that's been created by government inactivity over many years. So, instead of tackling the core issue which is stopping the boats, they are now tackling the issue of what to do with the people that are coming in in ever increasing numbers."
The 68-year-old criticised Burnham for repeatedly giving interviews and insisting that the number of small boat arrivals is falling, but said he was not surprised, claiming: "The boats are getting bigger and bigger." His blistering critique went on: "The real problem is that since he's become prime minister, over 3,000 illegal immigrants have now entered the United Kingdom, costing the British taxpayer millions and millions of pounds. They need to tackle the real problem. Instead of telling the middle classes in rural areas that you've got to take some of the illegals, they need to tackle the core issue and that is what the government ought to be having a COBRA meeting about today." He added: "This is the real emergency affecting everybody in the United Kingdom."
