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File on 4: Asylum Seekers

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Asylum Seekers

10/02/2015

BBC Radio 4 - File on 4, Asylum Seekers

With rising numbers of asylum seekers, are some UK communities struggling to cope?

Asylum seeker numbers are on the rise, and some communities say they are struggling to cope. Allan Urry reports on the pressures posed for local health services and schools.

Around 28 thousand people are claiming asylum in the UK. They're accommodated in some of the nation's most deprived areas while their cases are considered. Now, with numbers on the rise, some communities say they're struggling to cope. Allan Urry reports from the Northwest of England where, in some areas, there's concern about growing pressures on health services and schools. In Liverpool the City's Mayor, Joe Anderson, talks of an asylum "apartheid" and says other towns and cities need to take a fairer share. In Rochdale in Greater Manchester, there are more asylum seekers than the whole of the south east of England. The local MP Simon Danczuk says he's worried the pressures could undermine the good community relations that have always existed in the town.
Recent stories of asylum seekers living in fancy hotels have led to outraged newspaper headlines but are they a symptom of bigger failings in the UK's system for housing those who come here seeking refuge?

Reporter: Allan Urry
Producer: Matt Precey.

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