DUP MLA’s claims of Belfast having second highest number of asylum seekers in UK branded ‘inaccurate’ – The Irish News

The South Belfast MLA and Assembly speaker made the claim last month in the wake of decisions by some local councils in the north to open enforcement action against hotels housing asylum seekers

DUP MLA Edwin Poots’ claim that Belfast had the second highest level of asylum seekers in the UK has been called into question after Home Office figures show it to be the 20th.

The South Belfast MLA and Assembly speaker made the claim last month in the wake of decisions by some local councils in the north to open enforcement action against hotels housing asylum seekers on behalf of the Home Office.

Complaints were submitted to three local councils by DUP representatives.

In a social media post following a meeting with Mears Group, which provides the majority of accommodation in the north for those seeking asylum in the UK, Mr Poots said “Belfast has just been declared as the second city in terms of migrant accommodation in the UK, and obviously Belfast is not the second largest city in the UK.”

The DUP MLA goes on to claim in a video he was standing in an area “which is absorbing almost 20% of the migrant population in Northern Ireland in one BT code”, referring to BT12 which takes in areas of south Belfast such as Botanic, Sandy Row, Donegal Road and stretches to the Falls Road in the west.

However, as first reported by independent organisation Fact Check NI, latest figures from the Home Office show 19 other local authority areas house more asylum seekers than Belfast does.

2,103 asylum seekers were registered as being accommodated in Belfast as of 30 June 2025.

The most recent Home Office figures show Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds were among the cities which provided accommodation for more migrants than Belfast via the Supported Asylum scheme and associated schemes for refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.

Several London boroughs have also been registered as housing more asylum seekers than Belfast.

When the figures are examined in terms of percentage of the population, Belfast is lower down the list in 32nd as asylum seekers make up 0.6% of the population.

That still puts Belfast among the top 10% of the more than 382 local authorities in the UK, but not the second highest as claimed by the Assembly speaker.

While Mr Poots referred to “migrants” rather than “asylum seekers”, the DUP MLA later clarified that he was referring to asylum seekers.

There is one specific subcategory of asylum seeker where, by local authority area, Belfast does have the second highest number of asylum seekers. There are 1,707 people housed in “dispersal accommodation”, which refers to accommodation provided to asylum seekers whose claim for asylum support has been agreed.

Those figures do not include those in contingency accommodation such as hotels, those in “initial accommodation” and those housed under resettlement schemes with Ukrainian and Afghan nationals.

Edwin Poots and the DUP were contacted for comment.

Gerry Carroll, People Before Profit MLA for West Belfast which covers the BT12 area referenced by Mr Poots, said politicians needed to be “extremely careful” with their language given recent attacks on migrants and their homes.

“Politicians of all stripes should be focusing their energies on tackling the housing crisis,” he added.