Portsmouth City Council has voted down a Reform UK motion on asylum seekers, saying it was inaccurate and repeated measures already in place.
The motion, brought by newly elected Paulsgrove councillor Joe Standen, called for a fairer and more transparent system for placing asylum seekers in the city.
In his maiden speech, Cllr Standen highlighted revelations from the summer that the Home Office had placed around 700 asylum seekers “spread around in 55 Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)” without notifying the council.
He said the figure was “staggeringly more than the entire rest of the Hampshire authority combined” and urged colleagues to back the motion to “ensure” Portsmouth doesn’t take the “lionshare” of asylum seekers.
Housing cabinet member Cllr Darren Sanders urged members to reject the motion, saying it was based on errors and makes pledges that are already in place.
He pointed out that evictions are carried out under section 21 of the Housing Act, not section 22 as the motion claimed, and that there are 53 HMOs used for asylum housing, not 55.
Cllr Sanders highlighted other pledges, such as a temporary cap on placements and the requirement for the Home Office to notify the council, are already in place. He added that phasing out the use of hotels, which the motion called for, is already government policy.
The motion also called for the Royal Beach Hotel to stop housing asylum seekers, something Cllr Sanders said Reform members “know will happen” as the site has planning permission to be converted into flats, with rebuilding set to begin by summer 2026.
He added that asylum accommodation represents a small fraction of city housing, 53 out of 3,318 HMOs, and asylum seekers make up less than one per cent of Portsmouth’s population.
Reform UK group leader Cllr George Madgwick said residents had been “made to feel crazy” when they initially raised concerns about asylum seekers moving into nearby homes over the summer.
He said a landlord had evicted private tenants to take on a Home Office contract, leaving council officers “absolutely shocked and disgusted.”
“We were completely and utterly misled by the Home Office,” he said.
Cllr Madgwick argued the system worsens the housing crisis: “I know from first hand experience that you can make a lot more money as a landlord renting to Clearsprings or to Serco.
“There’s an incentive for landlords to not rent to us as a social body or to private renters – this then closes the market to people that can’t afford it.”
The motion was defeated, despite backing from Reform UK, the Portsmouth Independent Party and the Conservatives.
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