Andy Burnham says he is considering ripping up multibillion-pound contracts with private firms to house asylum seekers.
The government signed 10-year deals which are due to expire in 2029, but a possibility to activate a break clause became an option earlier this year.
The Prime Minister has frequently made clear his opposition to the current practise which results in the Home Office allowing private contractors such as Serco to put asylum seekers in hotels or houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) without consulting local councils.
Reform UK has said Burnham should give mayors the power to resist asylum accommodation in their areas as part of his pledge for further devolution of powers outside Westminster.
Asked if he would consider ending the contracts early and letting mayors have more influence over decisions, Burnham said: “I’m open to a discussion with regional mayors and I’m sure the Home Secretary is, where local solutions would be better than the situation that we have at the moment.”
Burnham said the current system is a “top-down process” which results in local authorities “not being adequately consulted about accommodation, not even notified sometimes”.
“I can understand why people want to see the change,” he said.
Asked specifically about activating the break clause, Burnham added: “We’re open to start the discussion.”
The use of hotels such as the Crowne Plaza near Heathrow to house hundreds of asylum seekers has been challenged by some local councils (Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty)Experts have warned breaking contracts early may be “difficult to implement” amid fears that councils do not have enough accommodation or financial resources to deliver it.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is believed to be on track with a pledge to close asylum hotels by 2029 when the contracts are due to end, but allies of Burnham have previously said he wants to go faster.
However, it has been reported that Home Office officials do not think local authorities have capacity to source the tens of thousands of beds required to close all asylum hotels more quickly.
Additionally, plans for councils to buy or build properties to house asylum seekers have been put on hold due to concerns over costs.
Around 200 local authorities had expressed an interest in joining Asylum Dispersal Pilots, as part of the Government’s plan to move away from privately-sourced asylum accommodation, which cost £4bn between April 2024 and March 2025.
Jacqueline Broadhead, director of the Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity, at the University of Oxford, said the problems facing the pilot scheme meant that “an immediate move away from the current system may be difficult to implement”.
Mahmood has now switched her focus to moving asylum seekers out of hotels into large sites such as military bases, with the Home Office last month announcing plans to use three more Ministry of Defence sites in Bicester in Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk, and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire to house around 3,750 people.
The Government is also looking to extend the use of existing military sites in Crowborough, East Sussex and Wethersfield, Essex.
By March this year, there were 93,653 asylum seekers in taxpayer-funded accommodation, with 22 per cent – 20,885 – in hotels. The average nighty hotel cost is £144, according to estimaes from the Home Office.
The average nightly cost of housing an asylum seeker for privately-rented temporary accommodation – often HMOs – is £23.25.
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