Andy Burnham would rip up asylum hotel contracts in a major migration U-turn, allies of the Greater Manchester Mayor have claimed.
Labour's Makerfield by-election candidate is looking to accelerate Sir Keir Starmer's commitment to close migration hotels after previously criticising Shabana Mahmood's positition on the asylum crisis.
The Home Office has been sitting on the opportunity to trigger a break clause with the 10-year contracts signed with companies responsible for sourcing asylum hotels.
Allowing the Home Office to negotiate or cancel the contracts between now and 2029, the break clause came into effect in March.
Mr Burnham's allies have said he was "very committed" to bringing contracts to an end with such private companies and would use the break clause if he succeeded into No10.
The Makerfield candidate would instead devolve the responsibility of housing asylum seekers to local authorities, with all migrants awaiting decision being placed in bedsits, multiple-occupancy homes and other community-based housing - which are fraction of the cost of hotels.
Whether Mr Burnham will continue Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's policies of moving migrants into large sites such as a former army training facilities, is not yet known.
His allies also alluded he will back tough immigration measures from Ms Mahmood, the Guardian reported last week.
Andy Burnham is currently campaigning for the Makerfield seat as a way to re-enter Westminster
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However, questions remain over whether this represents a genuine shift in the Greater Manchester mayor's position.
Firstly, the signals are not coming from Mr Burnham himself, but anonymous sources, whereas as some of his closest supporters, including MP Sarah Owen, have been openly critical of the Home Secretary's policies on asylum seekers.
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