Wealthy areas must play their part in housing asylum seekers, Burnham suggests

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has suggested that wealthy areas of the UK should house more asylum seekers.

"We cannot have a situation where it's only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers," he told GB News , external on Tuesday.

His comments came in response to a question about protests which have taken place in the village of Piddington, Oxfordshire over plans to provide accommodation for asylum seekers on a nearby former military base.

But shadow home secretary Chris Philp, responding to Burnham's comments, said: "We shouldn't be housing illegal immigrants anywhere – wealthy or not."

Home Office plan to use more military bases to house asylum seekers

Labour has pledged to stop using asylum hotels, a costly form of accommodation that has become a focal point for anti-migrant protests.

The government has sought to house migrants at military sites across the country instead, announcing in June that it planned to open three more including the site in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

The plans have prompted protests there, with residents of nearby Piddington voting to stage a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK.