Reform UK Councillor David Buckley has accused Labour of "massaging the figures" when it comes to asylum claims, after figures appeared to confirm that more than 50,000 rejected asylum seekers remain in Britain's hotels.
According to official Government data, 50,976 asylum appeals remain unresolved as of March this year, with more than 30,000 of those people remaining in asylum hotels.
Speaking to GB News, Councillor for Datchet, Horton, and Wraysbury, David Buckley, warned that there could potentially be more than 200,000 asylum seekers living "at the taxpayer's expense" in Britain.
Sharing details of the migrant hotel situation in his constituency, Buckley revealed that asylum seekers were removed from the local hotel just "two weeks ago".
Reform Councillor David Buckley warned that as many as 200,000 illegal migrants could be still living in Britain's asylum hotels despite having claims rejected
PA / GB News
Buckley said: "It has been an issue in our patch, we actually had the asylum seekers removed from our hotel about two weeks ago.
"But that's the second time they've been in our hotel over the last three years, previously by the Conservative leadership and now by the Labour leadership. But yes, it is something that obviously has affected us and may affect us again."
Highlighting the backlog of migrants remaining in the UK despite having claims rejected, host Tom Harwood told Buckley that many Britons would be "shocked" by the state of the country's asylum claims system.
He stated: "A lot of people will be shocked to hear that someone can have their asylum application rejected and still be living at the taxpayers expense for months, sometimes even years.
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GB NEWS"And this despite our very high acceptance rate of people in the first place, even those who have rejected stay here."
Buckley responded: "I remember statistics in 2023 of 150,000 asylum seekers waiting for processing, and they were only processing at 15,000 a year then, and that would have taken ten years to process the people that are already here, let alone the number that have come since that time.
"So I think there's a lot of massaging the figures by the Government. I do not believe the figures. The 50,000 on appeal, plus at least 150,000 that have not even gone through the process yet, you're looking at over 200,000 people, maybe a lot more, who are living at taxpayer's expense."
When pressed by host Emily Carver on the housing shortages in his constituency, Buckley revealed that around three years ago, there were around "4,000 people" waiting on housing.
Buckley told GB News that asylum seekers were removed from his local hotel two weeks ago
GB News
He said: "We had a housing waiting list three years ago of around about three and a half to four thousand people, and that's without taking in sofa surfers or anyone else who's living with family or friends from day-to-day.
"Our local council has built six council houses in the last 10 years. The Government could refinance councils just to build council housing, just social housing, and exclude obviously new people coming into the country. We could solve our social housing for our families and local people overnight."
In a statement, the Home Office said: "We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure, and we make no apologies for taking the necessary and immediate action to restore order, increasing asylum decision making and returning nearly 30,000 people with no right to be here."
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