Reform pledges to prosecute firms whose housed migrants commit crimes against women and girls

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK's home affairs spokesman, announced the policy in Piddington, the Oxfordshire village where Labour plans to house 1,250 asylum seekers in a community of just 350 residents. Reform would establish a police-led taskforce to investigate whether executives at private companies can be criminally charged when migrants under their care go on to harm local people. Yusuf contended that chief executives who take on Home Office housing contracts must be held 'criminally responsible' for dangerous acts by those in their accommodation. Local parish councillor Joe Marshall said villagers have received no meaningful contact from the government more than two weeks after Burnham promised to listen.

'The women and girls here are terrified — what kind of government does this to its own people?' Yusuf demanded from Piddington.

The taskforce would scrutinise private-sector contractors providing asylum seeker accommodation and pursue prosecutions where bosses are found liable.

The plan to settle 1,250 asylum seekers in an area whose existing population numbers just 350 has already provoked widespread outrage in the local community.