West Midlands a 'dumping ground' for asylum seekers – as applications from Albanians soar

House of Commons Library data shows the Black Country was supporting 2,811 asylum seeker applicants by the end of 2021.

They include 1,022 in Sandwell, 882 in Wolverhampton, 509 in Walsall and 398 in Dudley. Birmingham was home to 1,897 asylum seekers and there were 882 in Stoke-on-Trent.

However, some neighbouring authorities – including South Staffordshire – have not taken in a single asylum seeker, while Stafford has taken on two.

The figures refer to asylum seekers receiving 'section 95' support – which can include housing and financial payments – in December 2021.

They also show the West Midlands has the third most asylum seekers per 10,000 population, behind the North East and the North West.

The Home Office said that 7,382 asylum seekers were registered as living in the West Midlands at the end of last year.

Councillor Mike Bird, Conservative leader of Walsall Council, has been a long-standing critic of the Home Office’s asylum seeker dispersal programme.

He said as “unfair burden” was being placed on parts of the West Midlands and called for increased funding to help councils cope with high numbers of applicants.

“The West Midlands is being treated as a dumping ground for asylum seekers,” Mr Bird said.

“As far as the Home Office is concerned we are an easy option because of our infrastructure and transport networks. But what they don’t do is give us the money that should come with it. Supporting asylum seekers is a drain on resources in terms of things like medical support, yet the black hole in our budgets has not been plugged.

“Along with the rest of the Black Country authorities and Birmingham, Walsall is a welcoming place. However, our patience is wearing thin. Other local authority areas need to take their fair share.”

A total of 144 local authorities were recorded as having no asylum seekers registered, according to separate analysis by Oxford University’s migration observatory.

Meanwhile, according to new Home Office figures asylum applications from Albania increased by 129 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

The UK dealt with 3,082 applications from Albanian nationals in the three months to June, up from 1,344 in the first quarter of the year.

The figures show that so far this year Albanians were the second highest nationality of people claiming asylum in the UK.

Iran was first, as it has been since 2016, with 10,752 applications. Next in line were Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

The figures also show that 88 per cent of all Albanian asylum applications in the three months to June were from adult males.

Dudley North Conservative MP Marco Longhi has called on the Government to take urgent action over "economic migrants" who he claimed were a drain on the country's resources.

"My priority is to my constituents who are desperate for social housing, including people who are sofa surfing – many of them women and children," he said.

"This is costing us billions of pounds a year and it is hardly fair when we will soon be asking our constituents to share the burden of further cuts to public services."

According to reports, ministers are considering a new plan that will see Albanians who are rejected for asylum deported before they can appeal.

Wolverhampton-born immigration minister Robert Jenrick is due to visit the Balkan state in the coming weeks to firm up a deal agreed last year to return migrants.

He said the Government is working on a “fast-track” system to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to stay.

The UK dealt with 48,540 asylum applications in 2021, the highest number since 2003. A total of 4,083 applications were turned down.

Separate data shows that over the summer six in every 10 people arriving across the Channel in small boats were from Albania.