Government responds to huge petition to stop asylum seeker benefits

The Government has responded to a petition calling for an end to financial support for asylum seekers. The online document, at the time of writing, has garnered a huge 395,267 signatures. The House of Commons considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for a debate, and this one, set up by Bob Clements, has been waiting for 25 days for a debate date, according to Parliament's website. It demands "a cessation of financial and other support provided to asylum seekers by the Government".

Mr Clements added: "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." The Government said on June 23: "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."

Officials added: "The petition proposes ending that support immediately, and while we understand the objective behind that 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."

The Government added that it is aiming to increase the pace at which applications are checked to cut the number of individuals entering the UK's system.

It wrote: "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.

"In addition, we will continue taking strong action to reduce the number of people entering the UK asylum system in the first place."