A Labour council has been slammed for taking in a “disproportionate” number of asylum seekers. The claim came from the local Conservative opposition at Stockton Council over issues of crime and anti-social behaviour in the town centre. “Labour have dominated Stockton Council for decades [and] they’ve allowed areas of town centre housing to become ghettoised and by volunteering our town as a ‘dispersal zone’ they’ve attracted a disproportionate number of asylum seekers, creating challenges in terms of housing, public services and integration,” Councillor Niall Innes said.

It comes after Matt Vickers, Tory MP for Stockton West, said in Parliament last week: “Stockton’s Labour council volunteered as a dispersal authority, taking a completely disproportionate number of asylum seekers. For many years it has had one of the highest asylum seeker-to-resident ratios of any local authority across the entire country. Those asylum seekers are all housed near the town centre, creating challenges in accommodation, public services, and integration, and leaving huge numbers of lone men hanging around the town centre.”

Matt Vickers says there are ‘huge numbers of lone men hanging around the town centre’ (Image: -)

He added: “The situation is made worse by the council’s approach to housing, which allows huge amounts of houses in multiple occupation, bedsits and bail accommodation to emerge around the town centre.”

The authority’s leader has dimissed the criticism as misleading and inflammatory, TeesideLive reports, adding that the area actually has a “static number” of asylum seekers, and that it was the Tories who introduced the asylum dispersal scheme in the first place.

Councillor Lisa Evans said: “I am extremely disappointed by the comments made by Matt Vickers MP which I feel are unfair, inaccurate and inflammatory.”

She added: “In relation to his comments regarding asylum seeker numbers, he seems to forget that his government introduced the scheme.

“In Stockton we have a static number of asylum seekers whereas other authorities in the region, have a rising number in their asylum population.

“I am sure Matt Vickers is aware that we cannot control whether our asylum population is male or female and we can only house them in areas with vacancies, many of which are indeed houses of multiple occupancies with shared amenities. This position is reflected nationally.

“His comments are misleading, and he cannot blame the local authority for schemes that his government introduced, which he failed to address when they were in power. Stockton on Tees has a proud history of welcoming people to our borough and we have a rich, diverse population that contributes to our communities.”

Mr Vickers told the Express: “Stockton’s Labour Council were the ones who volunteered Stockton to become an ‘Asylum Dispersal Authority’ under Tony Blair’s Labour government, taking asylum seekers when we didn’t need to.

“Home Office Data shows 800 asylum seekers now housed in Stockton. What we see today is not a ‘rich, diverse population that contributes to our communities’ as Labour claim, but a run down town centre and anti-social behaviour out of control.”