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Councils spending taxpayer money on PlayStations for asylum seekers
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2025-02-06 at 6:08 PM UTCTHOSE FASCIST REPUBLICAN ARE TRYING TO CUT TAXES!
THESE ARE OUR ENGINEERS, DOCTORS, AND SCIENTISTS!
SHAMEFUL
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/04/councils-spend-taxpayer-money-playstations-asylum-seekers/Asylum seekers and refugees have been given taxpayer-funded PlayStations and DJ lessons by councils which have spent millions to host new arrivals, The Telegraph can reveal.
Newcomers in hotels have been provided with game consoles and yoga classes paid for by the public purse, with funding also being used to buy refugees and asylum seekers driving lessons, tickets to football matches and instruction in “circus skills”.
Local authorities have spent £141 million since 2022 on these extra initiatives, according to a Telegraph audit which provides a snapshot of how 110 councils are using funding.
These services have been paid for by local authorities despite growing pressures on the public purse.
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to get a grip on migration after more than 20,000 people arrived in small boats since Labour scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme, adding to the spiralling costs of housing new arrivals.
Rupert Lowe, the Reform UK MP, branded the spending a “disgrace”, telling The Telegraph: “Not just those claiming asylum, but every single successful refugee approval needs to be reviewed. The system is broken, and wide open to abuse.
“It is pure insanity. What message does this send to the millions looking to make the journey?
“No computer games, driving lessons, phones, laptops or whatever else. They should receive a one-way plane ticket.”
He added: “Overall, the waste is simply staggering. How can the drain on the public purse be justified at a time when we’re all being asked to pay so much more?
“Every single penny being spent on this nonsense should be urgently reviewed, and if it doesn’t represent value for the British taxpayer, cancel the contract as soon as possible.”
asylum seekers local council funding
Craig Simpson
Arts Editor
04 February 2025 2:02pm GMT
Asylum seekers and refugees have been given taxpayer-funded PlayStations and DJ lessons by councils which have spent millions to host new arrivals, The Telegraph can reveal.
Newcomers in hotels have been provided with game consoles and yoga classes paid for by the public purse, with funding also being used to buy refugees and asylum seekers driving lessons, tickets to football matches and instruction in “circus skills”.
Local authorities have spent £141 million since 2022 on these extra initiatives, according to a Telegraph audit which provides a snapshot of how 110 councils are using funding.
These services have been paid for by local authorities despite growing pressures on the public purse.
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to get a grip on migration after more than 20,000 people arrived in small boats since Labour scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme, adding to the spiralling costs of housing new arrivals.
Rupert Lowe, the Reform UK MP, branded the spending a “disgrace”, telling The Telegraph: “Not just those claiming asylum, but every single successful refugee approval needs to be reviewed. The system is broken, and wide open to abuse.
“It is pure insanity. What message does this send to the millions looking to make the journey?
“No computer games, driving lessons, phones, laptops or whatever else. They should receive a one-way plane ticket.”
He added: “Overall, the waste is simply staggering. How can the drain on the public purse be justified at a time when we’re all being asked to pay so much more?
“Every single penny being spent on this nonsense should be urgently reviewed, and if it doesn’t represent value for the British taxpayer, cancel the contract as soon as possible.”
The Telegraph can reveal that in 2022, the Tory-run council of West Sussex used £334 of its funding to buy PlayStation consoles and games for new arrivals in a “hotel setting”. The council also paid £496 for yoga sessions for those in hotels. Like many other local authorities, West Sussex is proposing a 5 per cent council tax increase for next year, the maximum it can impose, saying that government funding is “insufficient to meet the growing needs of our residents”.
Croydon council has spent £317,224 on extra services beyond housing and other essentials, including music sessions teaching “DJ skills” costing £6,900.
This spending was signed off during the council’s Labour leadership, which ended in 2022 after the council issued its third Section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy.
The council has also given £20,000 of funding to Care4Calais despite longstanding concerns about the group, which was found by the Charity Commission in 2023 to have displayed serious mismanagement.
The charity, which played a key part in legal action against the Conservative government’s planned Rwanda deportation flights, helped Croydon provide new arrivals with housing guidance, GP registration, sim cards and Oyster cards.
The council – which is also proposing a 5 per cent council tax increase for next year – said its services went to those “placed in Croydon by the Home Office while their asylum claim was being processed, as well as newly recognised refugees”, and that it used central government funding, not local authority cash.
The Labour-led Cardiff council worked with partner organisations to teach “circus skills”, along with Tai Chi sessions. Government funding was used, but no costs have been provided. -
2025-02-06 at 6:49 PM UTCSounds familiar
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2025-02-06 at 7:10 PM UTCwhat the fuck is a council
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2025-02-06 at 7:11 PM UTC
