Ipswich Borough Council’s Conservative leader calls on government to stop sending asylum seekers to the town

A Tory motion is calling for a town to no longer be listed by the Government as a dispersal area for asylum seekers due to a lack of services.

Cllr Ian Fisher, Ipswich’s Conservative Party leader, will ask councillors next month to back a bid asking the Government to no longer use the town as a dispersal area for asylum seekers.

Dispersal areas are locations where the Home Office provides accommodation while asylum claims are processed.

The Conservative leader says although the town has a proud history of helping those in need and offering a safe haven for those fleeing persecution, public services are being stretched to the limit.

Cllr Fisher says: “I want this to continue, but this can only happen if the public is on side with it.

“I fear that we are close to losing that support, and if lost, the road to regain the support will be painful and slow.”

It is unclear how many such accommodations there have been in Ipswich.

Suffolk County Council data shows 27 per cent of all pupils in Ipswich are classed as learning English as an additional language, up from 18 per cent in 2016 – figures range between two and 77 per cent depending on the school.

This does not mean figures refer to asylum seekers, however, as EAL children can be those born in the UK but grew up speaking another language, or simply come from another country where English isn’t the first language.

Cllr Fisher admitted only a very small proportion of these children, and their families, are asylum seekers, but still believes the impacts are felt on already stretched public services.

Addressing the motion, Cllr Neil MacDonald, Ipswich’s leader, said there were fewer asylum seekers in Ipswich today than when the Conservatives took over Novotel, criticising the opposing party for losing control of the asylum system.

He said: “Labour is now sorting out the chaos left by the Conservatives by putting record investment into public services after years of neglect.

“This includes powerful new measures for law enforcement and an ambitious house-building target.”

Net migration to the UK in the year to December 2024 was 431,000, nearly half of the previous year.

Cllr Fisher’s motion asks the Government to assess the impact of immigration and asylum levels on public services in Ipswich, and grants authority to the chief executive to commit to a public consultation and internal review of its Town of Sanctuary status.

He said: “The changes I am requesting will not solve the issues, but they will help.

“If we fail to make the small changes we are in control of, then we have no right to criticise others for getting the big decisions wrong.

The motion looks set to be discussed during next month’s full council meeting, scheduled for July 16.