Home Office launches probe into use of asylum seeker payment cards for gambling
The payments online were blocked each time, while in some other cases cash withdrawals were made in or near gambling venues, located using the terminal's ID number.
When asylum seekers arrive in the UK, they are given a chip and pin debit card called an Aspen card, which is intended to provide weekly support to buy essentials such as food, clothing and toiletries.
For people being housed in hotels that provide meals, the allowance is £9.95 a week, and for those in self-catered accommodation the allowance is usually £49.18 a week.
The cards are taxpayer-funded and there are around 80,000 users in the UK.
The data showed a peak of 227 attempts to use the cards to gamble in a single week last November.
At the lowest point, there were 40 attempts to use the cards to gamble in a week last July.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'This Labour Government is allowing illegal migrants to gamble using taxpayers' hard-earned cash. This madness has to end.'
A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The Home Office have begun an investigation into the use of Aspen cards.
'The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers, including any dependants, who would otherwise be destitute.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Monday briefing: How automatic voter registration could redraw Britain's political map
Good morning. A 12-year-old today will be able to vote in the next general election, unless it's called early. When I first heard that, I laughed. No wonder there's so much focus on Labour's plan to lower the voting age to 16. But it's another reform that could have a far greater impact on who votes – and who wins. The government has announced plans to introduce automatic voter registration, or AVR, where people are added to the electoral roll using existing government data, such as tax or passport records. Right now, voters in the UK have to register themselves. It's a clunky and outdated system. One study recently the most difficult registration processes in any liberal democracy. The result is that millions of people fall through the cracks. In 2023, about 8 million UK adults weren't correctly registered to vote, according to the Electoral Commission. So what could AVR mean politically? How does it shift power in a significant way, for parties both on the right and the left? I spoke to Luke Tryl, director of the nonprofit organisation More in Common, to find out. Euro 2025 | In a stunning comeback, England won the Euros on penalties, beating Spain 3-1 in extra time. They were scored by Chloe Kelly, Niamh Charles and Alex Greenwood. Trade | Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen announced a US/EU trade deal after a meeting on Trump's golf course in Scotland. The deal involves a 15% baseline tariff for most EU exports to the US. Gaza | Keir Starmer will recall his cabinet for an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis, as cross-party MPs warned his talks with Donald Trump provided a critical juncture in helping to resolve the conflict. Thailand and Cambodia | The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia will meet in Malaysia today for talks to end a border conflict that has led to deadly military clashes and the displacement of 150,000 people. Health | Demand for weight loss drugs is becoming so 'unsustainable' that demand may soon outstrip supply, pharmacists have said, warning supply problems could encourage people to turn to unregulated online sources, despite the risks. The core case for automatic voter registration, beyond party politics, is simple: it expands the franchise. It ensures that as many eligible people as possible are actually able to vote. Tryl pointed out that certain groups are much less likely to be registered, which in turn deepens existing inequalities. Those most likely to be missing are younger people, renters, lower-income families, settled migrants, students and people from minority ethnic backgrounds. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recently found a stark 19 percentage-point turnout gap between homeowners and renters. 'Those groups end up having a disproportionately lower electoral voice because they're not registered, and that has a real impact on policy,' he said. It's not just about democratic engagement. Who is in the voter pool clearly influences what decisions get made and who is ultimately elected, Tryl explained. He added that people in poorer communities often face a range of barriers, from time poverty and low awareness to disconnection from the political system and a lack of stable housing. Students, he said, may struggle with dual registration, while some migrants may not realise they're eligible to vote, or may not feel entitled to take part. How will it shift power? One of the biggest potential political impacts is on boundary changes. Registration rates vary between seats, Tryl said, so some MPs, especially in under-registered urban areas, are effectively representing far more people than others. And that's because constituency boundaries are based on the number of registered voters, not the number of eligible people. 'The difference in some seats can be tens of thousands of people,' he said. So where does this under-registration happen? 'It's mostly cities; places like Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol, London. MPs in these inner-city areas are representing larger populations, but that's not reflected in boundary calculations. If legislation goes through and we assume more eligible voters are registered, those people will finally be counted,' he added. Simply put, Tryl explained, this would mean more representation, and more parliamentary seats in urban and student-heavy areas. But with the total number of seats in parliament fixed at 650, that shift would inevitably come at the expense of rural, more affluent constituencies. 'It's hard to argue against the principle of automatic registration, but the boundary changes could make rural constituencies, some of which are already geographically large, even bigger,' Tryl said. Who is set to benefit? The most obvious party set to benefit is Labour, which tends to perform better in urban and student-heavy areas. But Tryl tells me that others are also likely to gain from this change. 'The Greens tend to perform better in inner cities and student areas. Some of the inner-city areas that we're talking about are where the independents have done very well, in parts of Birmingham and potentially in parts of London,' Tryl said. 'The big losers are likely to be the Conservatives, who tend to represent more affluent, high-registration areas, and the Liberal Democrats, who've made gains in the so-called Blue walls – former Tory, leafy, affluent strongholds.' Last week, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana formally launched a new political party, targeting the very inner-city seats likely to gain from automatic voter registration. Polling suggests the party could capture about 10% of the vote, potentially eating into Labour and Green support. Zack Polanski, who is running to be the next Green party leader, has already said he is open to working with any party willing to challenge Reform. This emerging 'Green-left' alliance could be pivotal in shaping the electoral map. On Friday, the group We Deserve Better, backed by the Guardian columnist Owen Jones, launched a campaign calling for a formal electoral pact between Corbyn and Sultana's party and the Greens. As for Reform UK, it's difficult to draw firm conclusions for now, Tryl said. But previous research (pdf) suggests the party's base is made up largely of older, non‑graduate, culturally conservative voters, many disillusioned with the Conservatives or drawn from the Brexit camp. Will this increase voter turnout? While this reform could have a far bigger effect on the electorate than extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds – there are about 1.5 million of them in the UK compared with an estimated eight million eligible voters who aren't registered – it is unlikely to lead to a dramatic surge in turnout, Tryl said. Voter turnout in UK general elections used to be consistently high, staying above 70% from 1945 right up until 1997, and even topping 80% in 1950 and 1951. But it had plunged to just 59.4% by the time Tony Blair secured his second term in 2001. Turnout did climb again between 2010 and 2019, yet it has never returned to 70%. In the most recent election in 2024, it slipped again, landing at 59.7%. 'I think that represents a wider democratic disillusionment and disengagement,' Tryl said, but added that there was public support for AVR. 'Forty-five per cent said they supported it, just 21% opposed. So it is more popular than allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote. But clearly that needs to go and sit alongside wider democratic engagement in a nonpartisan way.' People need to feel that voting matters. And, Tryl added: 'The fundamental challenge is too many people do not think that government is either willing, because they think politicians are only in it for themselves, and the system is rigged, or capable … to take on Britain's big challenges to bring about the change the country needs. When seven in 10 people say the country is getting worse, and the top word used to describe Britain is 'broken,' you've got overlapping crises: of trust, of exhaustion, of people feeling like they've lost control and agency. That is driving disengagement far more than the specifics of the democratic system.' The task for every party across the political spectrum in the coming years, Tryl said, is to prove that 'government can work and that it can be a force for good'. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Four years ago, the Conservative MP David Amess was stabbed to death in his surgery by an Islamic State sympathiser. In a searing interview by Anna Moore, his daughter Katie (pictured above) expresses her pain at his violent death, and the government's refusal to hold an inquiry. Alex Needham, acting head of newsletters The University of Edinburgh played an 'outsized' role in the creation of racist scientific theories and greatly profited from transatlantic slavery. Brilliant reporting by my colleagues of a landmark inquiry into the university's history. Aamna Films and TV shows might be eschewing sex scenes, but literary fiction is going in the other direction, with Sally Rooney, Miranda July, Yael van der Wouden and others all writing recent novels that explicitly explore the sex lives of their protagonists. Why? Because sex, writes Lara Feigel, opens 'selfhood to otherness with extravagant force'. Alex Labour MP Chris Hinchliff was suspended for what No 10 called 'persistent knobheadery'. His crime? Pushing stronger environmental protections. He told the Guardian this language reflects 'a certain set of people … for whom it's all a personality thing, it's all a game'. Aamna In a piece of great tenderness and beauty, Poppy Noor writes about her son Mo Ibrahim Lingwood-Noor, who died in childbirth, and how she moved through the aftermath of this devastating event. Alex Cricket | India drew in the fourth test against England after Ravindra Jadeja (pictured above) and Washington Sundar both completed centuries. England lead the series 2-1. Cycling | Tadej Pogacar has sealed his fourth Tour de France victory in Paris after the final stage from Mantes-la-Ville to the Champs Élysées. The 26-year-old beat his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, by almost four and half minute Formula One | Oscar Piastri comfortably won the Belgium Grand Prix as rain lashed down on to the track. The 24-year-old Australian saw off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. England's Euro victory dominates the front pages – with the Guardian labelling them 'Queens of Europe'. The Mirror has 'LionYESses', while the i also goes with 'Queens of Europe!' The Sun focuses on goalie Hannah Hampton with 'The Hann of God'. Elsewhere, the Times has 'Starmer to press Trump on Gaza'. The Financial Times reports 'Brussels accepts 15% US tariffs to fix 'unfair' trade relations, says Trump', and the Telegraph says 'Trump: Wind power is a 'con-job''. Finally, the Mail focuses on protests in Epping, with 'Now shut migrant protest hotel'. The hunt for the next Dalai Lama The Guardian's south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, and the Tibet activist Lhadon Tethong discuss the battle between Buddhist monks and the Chinese state over the successor to the Dalai Lama (pictured above). A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Despite not making the Belgium squad, footballer Yana Daniëls (pictured above) is making her own contribution to Euro 2025, handcrafting boxes for every player-of-the-match trophy in a converted Wirral garage, using locally sourced wood from Arrowe Park. After suffering from a career-threatening injury a decade ago, Daniëls was forced to plan ahead. She said, 'When you get older you start to realise: 'How long will I play on for? Will I need to find a normal job?' Daniëls' interest in carpentry developed through DIY requests from fellow teammates for the Liverpool changing rooms, including a table and a personalised shoe rack. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
What a bonus if Starmer is forced to ape Corbyn and not Farage
Plus, as a member of the Labour Party he famously was never a team player. But with the current Labour Party under the disastrous Keir Starmer (two-child benefit cap, no caps for bankers' bonuses, the pensioner winter payment fiasco, turning on the Waspi women, the whole free suit/glasses nonsense and to cap it all, complicity in Gaza genocide), there is one thing Mr Corbyn's new venture could do. Instead of spending a huge amount of time, political energy and wasting precious political capital trying to out-Farage Farage, maybe Keir Starmer will even things out and attempt to out-Corbyn Corbyn. Amanda Baker, Edinburgh. Reform will be the winner The chaotic launch of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new left-wing party may seem farcical on the surface, but it poses a very real and immediate threat to Labour and its allies. Polling shows this group could draw around 10% of the national vote – an amount that, while not enough to win, could be catastrophic for Labour's electoral prospects. The greatest beneficiary? Not the Tories, but Reform. Keir Starmer's grip on power is already under strain amid public disillusionment with his leadership style, spiralling public spending, the highest taxes in 70 years and an utterly nonsensical approach to illegal immigration which has not addressed the 'pull factor' one jot. The addition of a new hard-left alternative risks fracturing the left-wing vote beyond repair. More dangerously still, murmurs of discontent among sitting Labour MPs – especially those with slim majorities – raise the spectre of defections. If even a handful break ranks and shift to this new movement, the optics for the PM will be devastating. He will no longer be seen as the unifying force that won power, but the man who presided over the disintegration of Labour as we know it today. Clearly, a Labour-Green split in the face of this insurgent leftist bloc could be the difference between a fragile minority government and a total collapse by 2029. Keir Starmer may believe the hard left has been banished, but their return – however muddled – is a warning. Ignore it, and he may not last another four years, let alone win a second term. Small wonder support for Reform is surging. Ian Lakin, Aberdeen. Read more letters A broad church for indy needed I note Neil Mackay's thoughtful piece ("Corbyn's new party does not just threaten Labour, it will wound SNP too", [[The Herald]], July 26) on the potential of Jeremy Corbyn's new party to disrupt not only the Scottish Labour Party but the [[SNP]] vote too. My first thought was, is there a "wheesht for Labour" thing going? Perhaps not by Neil but there is by some. Secondly, I'm a socialist-leaning SNP supporter. Would this potential opportunity affect my vote? On reflection no. My red line is independence, I strongly believe that Scotland would thrive, economically, politically and socially as an independent nation state. A good neighbour to England but not ruled by her. My ongoing "fight" will be for independence just as it is for over 50% of the population. However after Independence Day I will then fight for a constitution that best frames my political vision, as of course will other Scots. The SNP needs to run a centre course, to be a broad church, to lead us to that independent future. Although a bit more "leading" would certainly help. Dr Jacqui Jensen, Perth. Mhairi Black was no trailblazer You describe former SNP MP Mairi Black as a 'trailblazer' ("Trailblazing former SNP MP Mhairi Black quits the party", The Herald, July 15), but what exactly did she achieve in nine years picking up her wages at the taxpayers' expense? She got elected age 20, with no work experience. Her party's propaganda/spin machine got behind her to give her a profile, and apparently, she made a speech which did well on the internet and made her in to a minor celebrity in the political bubble. It is difficult to believe that 10 million people viewed that video. Maybe Nicola Sturgeon had her finger on the 'Watch Again' button for several weeks, or some bots helped her with the numbers. If 10 million people really watched it, then they need to give themselves a good shake. But what did she actually do? There are no achievements that are apparent at all. She did not front up any piece of legislation, initiate any high-level campaigns or leave any legacy projects in her own constituency. She did jump on various bandwagons, but anyone can do that, and none of those bandwagons really went anywhere. Apparently, she did not like her job, which is not surprising in someone so young. She defended her seat when the SNP had the political wind at the backs, but then jumped ship in 2024 before her constituents had the opportunity to oust her. Ms Black has been the poster girl of the very shallow and superficial politics we have seen in Scotland over the last 10-15 years. What she does or does not believe in is neither here nor there. She had an opportunity to do things to help people in their everyday lives, but did not do anything of note in the time she had. Now, it is apparently the fault of everyone else. We need politicians who can do things in Scotland, not these minor wannabe celebrities. 'Trailblazing' is completely the wrong word for Ms Black. It is certainly not the kind of trail we want anyone else to follow. Victor Clements, Aberfeldy. SNP ranks will be thinner I have championed Mhairi Black from her early university days and believe she is a strong voice for Scotland, an impressive orator and I wish she had not left the SNP. What I do think will happen to the SNP now will be a thinning of the ranks from those who are members who joined for the referendum with their own agendas and saw independence as an avenue to secure their personal aims; when their aims were not met what was left was their own agenda, showing that their commitment to the SNP and independence was never their main goal. Those who remain in the SNP are in the majority around the centre ground, committed to independence, who recognise it as a long game and continue to be a voice for an Independent Scotland from within the SNP. The opportunity arose in 2014 to secure an independent Scotland and over half of Scotland said no, the people spoke and democracy means we respect the vote and continue to work towards independence. The SNP is and always has been the means to secure Independence, when the people of Scotland unite, decide they have enough then we will be an Independent country. Christine Smith, Troon. Mhairi Black has left the SNP (Image: Newsquest) Immigration conundrum The UK Government is planning an end to housing immigrants in hotels. The main political parties all have plans to end illegal immigration by stopping the rubber boat crossings from France. The Prime Minister says he will wage war on the people-smuggling gangs. He also has some kind of botched-together deal with President Macron of France. Up until September of last year there were 810,400 economically inactive people in Scotland. Crime has risen among immigrants in Britain and Scotland has a housing shortage. John Swinney wants more immigrants in Scotland which if organised properly could benefit the country. If a person arrives with qualifications and is willing to contribute that shouldn't be a problem. Immigrants who come here to sponge off the taxpayer and become involved in crime should get nowhere near our border. But who's going to decide who comes in and who doesn't? Ian Balloch, Grangemouth.
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
The state will do anything but fix the migrant crisis
Migrant hotel protests are erupting across the country, as 'tinderbox' Britain catches fire. What began with a series of protests in Epping, Essex, over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a recently arrived Ethiopian migrant, has now spread, as Brits air long-standing grievances about asylum seekers they have been forced to host in their own communities. A powerful tendency now exists in the British state towards displacement activity Demonstrations have so far been reported in Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth, Norwich, Leeds and Wolverhampton, Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, Altrincham and even at Canary Wharf in London. With years of unaddressed anger rapidly making themselves felt, the police, pulled in all directions, are struggling to keep up. 'Local commanders are once again being forced to choose between keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps', admits the head of the Police Federation. Still, it seems there is one thing the government is more than happy to devote resources to: trawling the internet for anti-migrant sentiment. The Telegraph reports that an elite team of police officers convened by the Home Office is set to monitor social media to flag up early signs of unrest. Working out of the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in Westminster the new National Internet Intelligence Investigations team will 'maximise social media intelligence' gathering in order to 'help local forces manage public safety threats and risks'. If this new division was just about intelligence-gathering that would be one thing. It's true that social media is in invaluable resource for following events on the ground at such gatherings, while local Facebook groups are often where grassroots protests are organised. Yet we know that when it comes to the British state and social media, censorship and punishment for online speech is never far behind. Ever since Sir Keir Starmer repeatedly linked the Southport unrest last year with social media, the idea has firmly taken root in Whitehall that the best way to stop unrest is to aggressively police the internet. Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, already takes this view, and the link has even been drawn in Department for Education guidance on how to talk to schoolchildren about the Southport disorder. In a recent report, the police inspectorate said that that forces must be 'better prepared and resourced to monitor, analyse, use and respond to online content', which it argues was a risk to public safety. This general zeal for social-media policing is why Big Brother Watch believes the new unit is very likely to infringe on free speech. The investigations team is 'Orwellian' and 'disturbing', says interim director Rebecca Vincent, creating the possibility that it 'will attempt to interfere with online content' as other government bodies are known to have done during Covid. As if there weren't enough threats to free speech already. This week age verification provisions in the latest stage of the Online Safety Act (OSA) kicked in, meaning that some footage of protests is now inaccessible on social media for many users. Not even parliamentary privilege is safe from the censorship regime. Katie Lam's searing April speech on the rape gangs, in which she quoted court transcripts and survivors, could not be watched on X without age verification. We are beginning to look like North Korea with rainbow flags: for the public's 'safety', footage exposing grievous failures of the British state now cannot be viewed in the UK. Little wonder, given the OSA explicitly earmarks content relating to 'child sexual abuse' and 'illegal immigration and people smuggling' as the 'kinds of illegal content and activity that platforms need to protect users from'. The Conservatives, who bequeathed us this blank cheque for digital authoritarianism, certainly need to take a long, hard look at themselves. The claims that the OSA is merely about restricting access to pornography has been exposed as a mere fig leaf. And still things could still get worse. As the Free Speech Union has noted, shortly after last year's riots, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a pro-censorship lobby group with ties to Morgan McSweeney, 'hosted a closed-door meeting under the Chatham House rule to discuss the role of social media in civil unrest'. In attendance were officials from the Home Office, the Department of Science, Information and Technology, Ofcom and other organisations. The CCDH proposals that emerged included amending the OSA to 'grant Ofcom additional 'emergency response' powers to fight 'misinformation' that poses a 'threat' to 'national security' and 'the health or safety of the public''. This would give Secretary of State Peter Kyle the ability to directly flag unapproved content to be taken down at a time of 'crisis'. Should the unrest continue this could well be coming down the track. What all this illustrates is just how ill-equipped the people in charge are to deal with Britain's problems, as The Spectator's Madeline Grant noted earlier this week. A powerful tendency now exists in the British state towards displacement activity. Spin doctors 'manage' the news. Police surveil social media. The government shuffles asylum seekers from hotel to hotel, or to HMOs, or even to privately rented accommodation (which it uses your own taxes to outbid you for). For his part, the prime minister has been tweeting about the women's football. As the unrest grows, leading politicians continue doggedly insist that Britain remains a 'a successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith country'. In reality, there are answers to the asylum hotels crisis, it's just that the government simply lacks the will to act. Large numbers of illegal migrants need to be deported, while those that are here should be placed in a secure holding facility somewhere remote. What is surely obvious by now where they should not be: in hotels, in an Essex market town 500 yards from a school; on the Bournemouth beachfront; in the London's financial district; in a Leeds suburb right next to a shopping centre. As it is, however, it seems the regime will try anything and everything before addressing people's real concerns.
