Chris Green MP has hit out at the Greater Manchester Mayor’s letter to the Home Secretary, where he falsely claims that the government is responsible for the area’s high levels of asylum seekers.
In the letter, Andy Burnham asks Sajid Javid MP to intervene in the government’s so-called ‘unfair expectation’ of Greater Manchester to accept a higher amount of asylum seekers than other regions – despite the fact that Greater Manchester councils volunteer to take extra asylum seekers.
Labour councils in Greater Manchester, including Bolton Council, have opted into the Gateway Project, which sees them voluntarily accept greater numbers of asylum seekers in return for money.
Bolton Conservatives earlier this year have pledged to withdraw Bolton from the scheme.
In response to the letter, Bolton West and Atherton MP Chris Green said: “Bolton is full of good and decent people who want to do their bit to support asylum seekers however I believe that we have done more than our fair share.
“Despite this, Labour run Bolton Council and many other Labour run authorities across Greater Manchester opt in to the Gateway Project and just three years ago, Bolton took one third of all of the UK’s refugees.
“We simply do not have the right resources, infrastructure or plans for integration to cope with this large number of refugees that Bolton Labour are bringing here.
“I support Bolton Conservative Leader Cllr Greenhalgh who has said that if Bolton Council was under a Conservative majority, it would withdraw from the Gateway Project.