Humongous petition calling for no asylum seeker benefits smashes new total

A petition calling for a stop to asylum seeker benefits has surpassed a new significant total. The online document has now garnered more than 420,000 supporters from across the country at the time of writing. It was set up by Bob Clements, who said: "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. 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." At the time of writing, 423,520 people have signed the petition. It may get debated in Parliament by MPs. All campaigns that have 100,000 signatories or more are eligible for discussion in the House of Commons. The Government has responded Mr Clement's demand, saying it would result in more individuals sleeping rough.

A spokesperson said: "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." The Government added that, while its understands the objective behind the 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."

It comes after charity leaders said Sir Keir Starmer's new one in, one out migration agreement with France "lacks transparency" and is "sidestepping the issue".

Last week, Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron announced their new migrant return agreement, which is due to begin within weeks.

But Dr Razia Shariff, the chief executive of Kent Refugee Action Network (Kran) told PA News Agency it is "unlikely" that the deal is a step in the right direction.

Dr Shariff said: "I don't actually understand how it's going to help. I think it's welcome that we've got some form of a safe or legal route being introduced for the first time - above and beyond a resettlement scheme."

But she then pointed out that the UK and French leaders "don't know if the EU is even going to verify it" and that they have not worked out the details yet.

She continued: "There's a little bit of light if you like, given the fact that they are going to be offering some safer legal routes on this new scheme, but it's definitely not enough. It's a drop in the ocean, right?"

The petition can be found here.