Petition against asylum seeker benefits hits 427k signatures but still no debate

A huge petition against financial support being given by the Government to asylum seekers has waited 70 days for a possible debate date after hitting the required amount of support. The online document garnered 427,448 signatures over six months, with campaigns earning the right to be considered for debate once 100,000 signal their agreement with the proposal. The petition was set up by Bob Clements, who wrote: "This petition is to advocate a cessation of financial and other support provided to asylum seekers by the Government.

"This support currently includes shelter, food, medical care (including optical and dental), and cash support." He added: "I believe that such provisions may inadvertently incentivise illegal migration, particularly via the English Channel. This petition is to urge the Government to discontinue these support measures and payments." As of today, the House of Commons says the document has been "waiting for 70 days for a debate date".

If a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, it warrants a response from the Government.

Officials said in response to Mr Clements' proposal: "We are determined to tackle illegal migration and end the use of asylum hotels but in the meantime there is a legal requirement to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be living on the streets.

"We are grateful to everyone who took the time to sign this petition."

They added: "The petition proposes ending that support immediately, and while we understand the objective behind that proposal, we have to recognise that - in many cases - the people currently receiving that support would end up living on the street instead, including many women and children.

"According to the latest official data, the number of rough sleepers in England in autumn 2024 was 4,667, so if we immediately ended the support given to every asylum-seeker, it would increase that number by multiple amounts.

"We believe a better approach is to continue speeding up the processing of asylum claims, so that people who are genuine refugees can be accepted, those who are not can be rejected and removed, and either way, we can keep working to cut the amount of money spent on asylum support."

Today, Home Office figures showed that more than 50,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Labour won the 2024 general election.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Labour's promise to "smash the criminal boat gangs" in its manifesto last year was "just a slogan", with crossings now "so much worse" than they were before the vote.

There have been 27,029 arrivals so far this year, which is 47% higher than at the same point of 2024 when the figure stood at 18,342, and 67% higher than at the same time in 2023 (16,170).

It comes as it has been revealed that a staggering 213,666 migrants given indefinite leave to remain received Universal Credit in July, up from 153,648 a year ago, according to new figures.

It also represents a 123% increase from the 95,612 in April 2022.

Another 770,213 European migrants are claiming Universal Credit, up from 644,847 in April 2022, after being allowed to stay under the EU Settlement Scheme.