They missed out a key detail…
The Daily Mail has run another misleading and sensationalist story about asylum seekers, claiming that money is being spent on ‘fun days’ and ‘gift cards’, leaving out a key detail in its bid to whip up another moral panic.
Over the weekend, the paper ran an article with the headline: ‘Crazy golf trips, circus tickets and countless Amazon parcels: How cash-strapped councils are handing out gift cards and fun days to asylum seekers using taxpayer money.’
The paper tried to suggest that asylum seekers were receiving favourable treatment, yet when you dig deeper, the Mail’s claims are pretty misleading.
Labour councillor Sebastian Salek set out in detail via a thread on X how the Mail had omitted a key fact from its reporting.
He highlighted how the money which was the focal point of the story, was being spent on unaccompanied children who have lost their parents and that the Mail had failed to report that they were getting exactly the same support as British children in the same situation.
Salek wrote: “The paper wet the bed over Kent County Council’s spending on asylum seekers: £162,077 at Amazon, £70,056 at Argos, £6,055 at a swimming pool, yes, that’s taxpayers’ money. And it’s so easy to explain.”
“The money is being spent on *unaccompanied children* who have lost their parents. They might have fled the Taliban or been at risk of becoming child soldiers. The key thing: they’re getting exactly the same support as similar British children. When unaccompanied minors seek asylum, they enter the care system. Children in care go swimming. They go to the circus. They play with toys. It’s an important part of their development. And we all benefit from it.”
“Because children in care are extremely vulnerable. Thousands go missing every year. That puts them at risk of exploitation, homelessness, or crime. When those problems are prevented rather than fixed, we all win. But it’s also true that *adult* asylum seekers get money.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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