'Misleading' claims rejected

COUNCIL LEADER HITS OUT AT RIVALS' 'INFLAMMATORY' SUGGESTIONS OVER ASYLUM SEEKER NUMBERS IN TOWN

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

A LABOUR-RUN council’s leader has rejected claims that it has taken a “disproportionate number” of asylum seekers as misleading and inflammatory.

Conservative politicians have made comments on the issue while criticising Stockton Council over issues of crime and anti-social behaviour in Stockton town centre.

The council’s leader has said the town in fact has a “static number” of asylum seekers, and that it was the Conservatives who introduced the asylum dispersal scheme in the first place. Councillor Niall Innes, Conservative member for Hartburn, said: “Labour have dominated Stockton Council for decades. They've allowed areas of town centre housing to become ghettoised and by volunteering our town as a ‘dispersal zone’ they've attracted a disproportionate number of asylum seekers, creating challenges in terms of housing, public services and integration.”