To agree with Andy Burnham that it’s about time the middle classes took their fair share

[Morningteacup2]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/08/11/burnham-middle-class-areas-must-take-more-hotel-migrants/

Not a huge fan of Labour I must say, but this is well overdue!

Thank you @indigorising

Don't be daft. 65% of the left are middle class people. And 56% of middle class people are left wing.

Bloody love this 👏 👏 although I have my doubts about that thread's intentions.

It seems counterproductive to me. I’m happy to be educated if I’m wrong but surely land, buildings etc are more expensive in middle class areas vs lower class areas? So what we spend even more on housing them just to prove a point?! I don’t have a problem with immigrants but large groups of illegal immigrants which are mainly men shouldn’t be put anywhere. A friend lives near one of those hotels and it’s constant disruption, anti immigration protesters vs everyone is welcome protesters. The only stories that come out of that hotel are negative ones, especially in regards to sexual assault.

People complain about the cost though! I live in a naice part of the south east. The hotels are in demand with well off business people, tourists etc. The hotels are profitable and have reinvested that in smart facilities. To convince the proprietors to accept immigrants the government would have to pay the going rate & it would be expensive.

By contrast, an old somewhat neglected hotel near a poor northern town is probably a fifth of the cost to the government.

Can you imagine the daily fail headlines? "ASYLUM SEEKERS LAPPING UP LUXURY AT £250 A NIGHT HOTEL"

Good idea. Let's start with Gary Lineker. A couple of big HMOs right opposite his gaff will do nicely. Groups of men sitting outside smoking and shouting all hours of the day and night, mopeds and e-bikes constantly coming and going, and the obligatory stained and filthy mattresses piled up on the pavement. Let's see how long his patience and empathy lasts then.

The Navy don’t have the kind of vessels that can do this. A destroyer or frigate isn’t designed to take on people at sea from a small boat in the same way that Coastguard and RNLI vessels can. Some of the smaller old RFA vessels could have done it but they’ve all been scrapped. Additionally our Navy has its hands full with repeated incursions to UK waters by Russian ships, submarines and aircraft.

By “middle class area” he just means anywhere that’s still majority white btw

Really? Where are their wives and children by the way?

The last time I saw any women coming over via the boats they were in the sea. The men were nice and dry on the boats.
You want that here?

When is he going to focus on improving economy and safety? I think I know the answer. Never.

don't think the British navy has any legitimacy in French waters, and once in UK waters they have to rescue them and bring them to the UK. as it should be.

perhaps the British Air force stop bomb the crap out of these places and see if that helps

oh I thought that the social housing wasn’t being given to overseas citizens and that this was an urban myth

yes it’s awful that they are above the law with things like parking

Your right, how though can we stop the RNLI bringing them ashore ? Its catch 22, they do a fantastic job of assisting genuine maritime emergencies - but are absolutely facilitating the arrivals.

Hmm, I can see that this might sound popular to some voters. But very poorly thought through, since it would be far more expensive to house people in a "middle class" area and also these would be the areas more likely to have long social housing lists for local people.

It would make more sense to put resources into a fast through put and turn around of migrants as far as possible. Better for the UK and costs of accommodation, and fairer for the migrants.

Smacks of jealousy and nothing more.

I'm finding it amusing that those middle class Labour/Lib Dem voters are more concentrated on Hoping Binface beats Farage. Has anybody broken the news to them that Burnham's put them in the spotlight 😆 🤣

No we definitely don’t need any more migrants, concentrate on who is here already making sure they have jobs and housing

No that’s part of the change that both reform restore and the conservatives have said they will do

and I agree
it should be British born citizen who get priority for any social housing first

then if immigrants have got a passport ( not just ILR ) they can be considered for housing
I would also make the time it takes to get ILR longer unless you are in a profession that we need

The change needed is that we need detention centres.
Safe, food, clothes.. play areas for children. But enclosed. They can’t leave until their application has been processed, and either allowed to stay or sent off home.

It was hilarious (and infuriating) to watch a bunch of them from Biscester desperately trying to stop a batch of migrants being housed there - their reasoning (and they worked hard to come up with something other than "Aarrgh not here!") was that the presence of migrants might attract far-right protesters to the area..... 🙄

I actually think it's the opposite - the left despises working-class people. They smear them all as stupid and racist. The Pakistani rape gangs scandal is probably the most extreme example. The left spent years and years denying that it ever happened - some of them still do. Many of them are also still steadfastly denying that the girls were targeted because of their race. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that some leftists are more upset that the rapists were caught than they are that the girls were abused in the first place. Lucy Powell MP got asked about the scandal and dismissed the question as a racist dog whistle. Naz Shah MP retweeted a tweet about how the victims need to shut up for the sake of diversity.

Then there are the girls in Dundee who defended themselves against a paedophile. The comments people made about two children were disgusting.

Yes why wasn’t that followed through

Bushmills, I think you’re right. We won’t be relying on these particular migrants anywhere near as much as open-borders supporters would like us to think.

Here’s a link to the results of an interesting Home Office study named Refugee Integration Outcomes: Employment from 2015 to 2023.

It shows the refugee employment rates by route into the UK or scheme, age and sex, and how it changes over a number of years. It also the states the equivalent employment rate for the rest of the population.

It’s certainly not indicating all those much vaunted doctors, engineers, physicists etc. They are not arriving and claiming asylum.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/refugee-integration-outcomes-rio-employment-from-2015-to-2023

Seriously? Between this and the Arday scandal, chickens are finally coming home to roost.

@Morningteacup2 How are you defining middle class? actually I’d be interested to know how Andy Burnham worked that one out as well. He didn’t even seem to know what was going on in Piddington.

There was a hotel in an area where I lived in London that was pretty rough - I don’t know how it classified officially because it’s one of those areas that didn’t used to be rough maybe 20 years ago - and became rough. I think it probably counted as working class, but I’m not sure.

But we’ve also had other others in places like Epping.

So yeah, how are you defining it? No one is exempt as it is.

isn’t Crowborough middle class?

i’m not obsessed with class, so I find it quite hard to figure this stuff out.