{"id":297131,"date":"2025-07-28T00:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/297131\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T00:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:04:11","slug":"fury-as-bankrupt-birmingham-council-offering-asylum-seekers-huge-discounts-on-swimming-golf-trampolining-villa-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/297131\/","title":{"rendered":"Fury as bankrupt Birmingham council offering asylum seekers huge discounts on swimming, golf, trampolining & Villa games"},"content":{"rendered":"

BANKRUPT Birmingham Council is offering small boat asylum seekers hefty discounts on leisure activities \u2014 including swimming, golf and trampolining.<\/p>\n

The Labour<\/a>-run authority, which is locked in a bin strike<\/a> now in its seventh month, is giving migrants up to 25 per cent off through its Passport To Leisure scheme.<\/p>\n

\"Migrants<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Small boat asylum seekers are being offered hefty discounts on leisure activitiesCredit: Getty\"Mary<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Money is lopped off tickets to watch shows, such as Disney musical Mary Poppins at the Birmingham HippodromeCredit: supplied<\/p>\n

Migrants, many of whom have crossed the Channel<\/a> by boat before claiming asylum on reaching the UK, can also get a fifth off on the use of council swimming<\/a> pools.<\/p>\n

Martial arts classes are subsidised for migrants under the initiative, as are courses on trampolining, golf<\/a>, gymnastics<\/a> and football<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The price of a trip to a council wellbeing centre for fitness, yoga, squash and badminton sessions is also cheaper.<\/p>\n

The council even offers \u00a31 tickets to Aston Villa<\/a> matches for migrant children, as long as they are accompanied by a full paying adult.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON MIGRANT CRISIS<\/p>\n

In a further slap in the face for taxpayers, asylum seekers get ten per cent off at most council leisure sites, meaning cheaper trips to the theatre<\/a>, museum and city\u2019s botanical gardens.<\/p>\n

Under the scheme, \u00a33 is lopped off tickets to watch shows, such as Disney musical Mary Poppins at the Birmingham Hippodrome.<\/p>\n

The Passport To Leisure card is available to over-60s, full-time students, carers, disabled people and recipients of certain benefits.<\/p>\n

Birmingham<\/a> \u2014 England\u2019s largest local authority district by population \u2014 already has a \u201cBe Active\u201d scheme for asylum seekers which offers free swimming and gym sessions.<\/p>\n

The council is \u00a33.9billion in debt and declared itself effectively bankrupt in September 2023 with the issue of a Section 114 notice, limiting it to essential spending only.<\/p>\n

It is also under fire over its handling of a bin strike which has seen mountains of rubbish pile up on the city\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n

Migrant hotel protesters take to the streets again as demonstrations spread across the country in weekend stand-off<\/p>\n

Unite union members are in a dispute over pay and proposed changes to some roles.<\/p>\n

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp<\/a> said: \u201cThis is a bankrupt Labour council, in the middle of a bin strike, racking up billions in debt, hiking council tax<\/a> by 21 per cent, and their priority is trampolining perks for illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a slap in the face for hard-pressed taxpayers who are being forced to subsidise freebies for illegal immigrants who claim asylum having crossed the channel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BANKRUPT Birmingham Council is offering small boat asylum seekers hefty discounts on leisure activities \u2014 including swimming, golf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,487,393,5502,560,4884,528,18624,820,118,16,18625,15,7858],"class_list":{"0":"post-297131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-cost-of-living","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-english-channel","13":"tag-exclusives","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-labour-party","16":"tag-refugee-crisis","17":"tag-section-newsuk-news","18":"tag-the-sun-newspaper","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-uk-immigration-crisis","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-west-midlands"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114927938136507015","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}