Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been lambasted by the leader of Hillingdon Council after "failing to fund" fleeing Chagossians and experiencing an influx of residents.Confirming the deal in a press conference last week, the Prime Minister claimed the staggering cost for a military base overseas was "part and parcel of Britain's global reach".FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00This is an incredible situation. You're the leader of the Conservative Council, of course, Hillingdon, an area where Chagossians have historically made their home because it's proximity to the nearby airport.
00:11And we find ourselves in a situation where they're fleeing because of the Chagoss deal.
00:15And you're on the front line and you're saying it's going to be very, very difficult to house them.
00:21Yeah, that's absolutely right. It is becoming increasingly difficult to house people that are returning or coming from the Chagoss Islands to the United Kingdom.
00:30Hillingdon is the home authority for Heathrow Airport, and we are one of a few number of gateways into the country for people from the Chagoss.
00:39We have seen the pressures rise quite enormously. In the first six months after the deal was announced, we had just 55 households come into Heathrow, of which 46 required our support for temporary housing.
00:56In the first seven weeks of this year, we have had 57 households coming in from the Chagoss Islands, and all of those have required our support with temporary housing.
01:08The difficulty here is not so much with the people from the Chagoss Islands that are exercising their rights, and we are quite willing to support them.
01:18The difficulty here is that the government is just failing to fund the responsibility that is now falling onto the local authorities, and as a consequence, is falling onto the shoulders of Hillingdon residents.
01:29It seems incredible that people fleeing British citizens, Commonwealth sovereign citizens, fleeing a policy decision made by the Prime Minister, are turning up.
01:41As is there right that they are entitled 100% to be here, and yet a Labour government could make them be veering towards almost homelessness, because there's simply no room at the inn?
01:55Well, when they arrive, they are actually declaring themselves homeless, so these people do present themselves as homeless, and those with families, with children, we have a duty to house, and that is the difficulty is providing the housing during the present housing crisis that's hitting London exceedingly hard.
02:14And this is not only forcing us to look far further afield in the country to move these families to, but also to move our own household presentations, and those that we have presenting from the Home Office hotels that are accommodated in Heathrow.
02:32Stashing.
02:33So we have not only the arrivals from the Chagoss, but we have also the asylum seekers in the hotels.
02:40It is causing a massive problem.