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🔎 Debunking Darren Grimes' Misleading Claims on Housing for Asylum Seekers

On June 6th, 2025, newly elected Durham County Councillor Darren Grimes posted the following on social media:

I just had numbers provided for the properties handed over to a contractor working for the Home Office to provide homes for 'asylum seekers' in my County Durham ward. I am frankly sickened by the prioritisation of illegals over our own, whose lot in life is harder and harder.

This post makes a number of claims and implications that do not align with the facts. Given Grimes' new position as a county councillor, this sort of misleading commentary is not just careless — it is irresponsible. Elected officials are entrusted with representing their communities with honesty, clarity, and respect for evidence. Below is a methodical breakdown of his statements, set against verified information obtained through a Freedom of Information request to Durham County Council.

🔢 Claim 1: Properties are being used to house asylum seekers via Home Office contractors

This is plausible. The Home Office does have contracts with private providers to house asylum seekers. Darren Grimes appears to be referencing numbers shared with him regarding properties used in his ward under this arrangement.

However, it is important to clarify that this accommodation is not managed or influenced by the Council. From the Freedom of Information response (Ref: 7967456, dated 10 June 2025):

"It is the Home Office that manage the Asylum Seeker programme and have contracts with third parties to provide private accommodation for this cohort."

The Council has no role in selecting, funding, or allocating these properties.

🔢 Claim 2: "Prioritisation of illegals over our own"

This is the central and most misleading claim.

Firstly, the use of the term "illegals" is inflammatory and incorrect. Asylum seekers are legally entitled under UK and international law to accommodation while their claims are assessed.

Secondly, the idea that asylum seekers are being prioritised over British citizens is not supported by the evidence. The FOI response states:

"Amount of council housing allocated by Durham County Council for the above: Nil"

"Asylum Seekers are not eligible for social housing."

"All our social housing is allocated in line with the Durham Key Options Letting Policy."

There is a completely separate system for asylum seeker accommodation. It is managed by the Home Office and does not affect local housing allocations.

When a sitting councillor uses their platform to suggest — falsely — that their constituents are being pushed aside in favour of asylum seekers, they are stoking division based on fiction. That is not public service. That is propaganda.

🔢 Claim 3: Local people are being made worse off as a result

This implication rests on the assumption that asylum seeker housing affects the availability of housing for local residents. But the FOI response makes clear that:

  • No Council housing is being diverted
  • No Council money is being spent
  • Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing

Therefore, any hardship faced by local residents is unrelated to asylum seeker accommodation.

🔍 So Where Are the Numbers?

Darren Grimes stated:

"I just had numbers provided for the properties..."

Yet at the time of writing, he has not published or substantiated these figures.

This raises several questions:

  1. 📃 What are the numbers? If they are significant and credible, they should be easy to cite and share.

  2. 🔍 What is their source? If the figures come from official documents or briefings, that should be stated. Without a source, they cannot be independently verified.

  3. ⚖️ How are they being interpreted? A raw count of properties does not imply displacement, prioritisation, or use of council resources unless shown otherwise. The FOI response from Durham County Council directly contradicts any suggestion that council housing or council funding is involved.

For an elected official to invoke unnamed numbers while refusing to publish them undermines public trust. It risks substituting grievance for evidence.

Until the data Darren Grimes references is made public and its provenance explained, his post should be treated as an unverified assertion.

If the intent is to provoke outrage, not inform, then withholding the numbers may serve a rhetorical purpose — one that does not stand up to factual scrutiny.

📆 Summary

Darren Grimes’ post expresses anger toward the Home Office’s housing of asylum seekers in his area. While his criticism is aimed at the Home Office, his use of the phrase "prioritisation of illegals over our own" falsely implies that local people are being displaced or disadvantaged by this process.

The facts, as confirmed by Durham County Council, are:

  • No Council housing is allocated to asylum seekers
  • No private rental properties are funded by the Council for asylum seekers
  • Asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing
  • The Home Office alone manages the asylum programme through private contractors

As an elected representative, Darren Grimes has a duty to speak from evidence, not innuendo. Instead, his post obscures the facts and risks inflaming division based on an entirely separate, Home Office-run process.

🔗 Source

Durham County Council FOI Response Ref: 7967456, dated 10 June 2025. Available upon request or via the Council's disclosure log.

🔢 Cold facts matter. Misleading posts like these risk fuelling division based on fiction rather than reality.