Small town tensions: The asylum crisis in Middle England

0:00Hello, Ed Conway here. Here is what might sound like a slightly random question. What do AirPods, bananas and a pair of shoddily made running trainers from the 1970s have in common? On the surface, not very much. But on my podcast, Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how, together, they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in. The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow. Hi, I'm Mark Austin and today on the Sky News Daily, the deep divide over asylum seekers, this time in Nuneaton, a town literally in the middle of England.

0:39So how are people feeling? Hello, Ed Conway here. Here is what might sound like a slightly random question. What do AirPods, bananas and a pair of shoddily made running trainers from the 1970s have in common? On the surface, not very much. But on my podcast, Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how, together, they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in. The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow.

1:18That's the issue we have with using our country. You've got to use rape on our kids and s***. Say no kids! Say no, this is our country. How about becoming your country and your kids? Tensions in Nuneaton are high. The town in Warwickshire, which is a county council led by Reform UK, has a statistically low but rising number of people seeking asylum. I don't think I'd want to live next door to not being funny, not being racist at all. an asylum seeker. It's a key battleground for the migrant crisis conversation then. Politicians have played into community frustrations and fears while others worry about the damage a lack of cohesion could bring.

2:06I'd like a little bit more compassion and solidarity and I think the only way we're going to do that is being a community again. Our Midlands correspondent Shaman Freeman-Powell has been to Nuneaton and Shaman there are many towns across the country facing these sorts of challenges. First of all why Nuneaton? I think Nuneaton for me was important to explore because like many towns and cities they had protests there but what was different and unusual about Nuneaton is that the people protesting weren't outside of hotels and that's because the asylum seekers that are housed there live in HMOs, houses of multiple occupancy which essentially means that they're living in residential areas side by side with local people.

2:50And the protests that I referred to were sparked after a case, a court case, which saw two men charged with rape of a 12-year-old girl. Now both those men deny those charges and face trial, but this was what sparked the process there a few weeks ago. And I thought it was interesting to explore just how the town has been impacted by the arrivals of asylum seekers there. Up until a few years ago, back in 2023, asylum seekers in Nuneaton were only a handful, single digits. Now in 2025, that number is 247. So it's been a huge increase. When you put that into perspective, Nuneaton is a town of 88 ,000 people.

3:33So the numbers are small, but the impact is clearly being felt. And so it was important for me to figure out what was going on there. Tell us about the houses of multiple occupancy and how do they work? Essentially a house of multiple occupancy is a house with multiple tenants forming one household. The HMO that I went to in Loneaton used to be a three-bed terrace house. So I spoke to people on my street who told me that up until fairly recently you would usually find families living in those sorts of properties. Now that house has gone from being a three-bed terrace house to a house that now has eight men living there.

4:13The person I spoke to who was asylum seeker from Iran showed me his bedroom. It had a single bed, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers. That was it. So very sparse. And I think what I found most interesting, speaking to people that live close to these HMOs, their main concern is the idea that they're not reassured that the right checks and balances are being had. When you go to these hotels that are housing asylum seekers, you will see security on the doors, which means that when protests take place, it's harder for protesters to get in. But it also means that there is some sort of monitoring taking place.

4:51People I've spoken to weren't convinced that enough checks and balances had to be made. These migrants, these asylum seekers, predominantly young men, just describe the kind of journey that they've been on. We spoke to a man called Javid. That's his real name. We have changed his name because he's worried about the safety of his family. He told me that his family paid 11 ,000 euros to come to the UK. And what was really interesting about his stories, he told me that he had to flee because he had converted to Christianity. But what I thought was really interesting is that Javid told me that he actually had no choice where he ended up.

5:30When his family had paid the 11 ,000 euros to these people smugglers, they were only told they would be coming to Europe. They didn't actually know the UK would be the final destination. He explained to me that he had no idea just how long it was going to take for him to have his case processed. And he doesn't leave the house very often because he is very aware of the protests currently taking place. and the fact that many people do not think people like him should be living in their area. He certainly is aware of the community tensions that are being caused. You went out onto the streets of Nuneaton.

6:09Tell us a little bit about what you were told and the kind of tone of the conversations. Many people have genuine concerns. There was a lot of prejudice. There was a sense of feeling as though there are lots of people coming into the town that look different, that sound different. On one day when I went into the town centre, and this is where the protests had taken place, I was interviewing a British Asian man called Zaheen. As you will know, we always ask, what is your name and how to spell it is the first question. That's all I'd asked at this point. and before he could even answer that question, he was surrounded by a group of women who had lager in their hands.

6:52They'd clearly been drinking. And how old are you? I'm 32. 32? Yeah. How? What do you remember? They need a s***. They need a s***. They need a s***. That's the issue we have with you in our country. You've got to use rape on our kids and s***. Say more kids! This is our country. How about becoming your country? We are new kids. Say more kids! Let's walk. Let's walk. Let's walk. It got very tense. I felt bad for Zaheen actually because I could see just how humiliating that must have been for him. And it also showed me how these political debates and conversations are trickling out onto the streets.

7:40You have a British man that's being accused of crimes he hasn't committed because there's an assumption that he's different. You use the word prejudice there, prejudice against these people. Presumably, there is genuine concern as well. People who would not consider themselves to be prejudiced, but who are genuinely worried about what could happen to that community. Absolutely. I think most of the people that I'd spoken with had genuine concerns. I think what's quite interesting, though, is that asylum seekers can't work, they can't study, and they're not actually able to support themselves financially.

8:18And I think whilst the argument and the conversations have mainly been surrounded by hotels and where these people should be housed, regardless of whether or not these people are processed and becomes refugees, under international law, the government has to house these people. So whilst there were genuine concerns, I think what I thought was quite worrying, actually, is that it's people like Zaheen that were being targeted. What about the politics of all this? Because it's interesting, Nuneaton in Warwickshire and Warwickshire County Council is a Reform UK led council now. What impact does that seem to be having?

8:57I think for the people that have had these concerns for quite a while now, I think many of those felt as though Nigel Farage, the Reform Party and George Finch, who is the Wilkeshire County Council leader. He's very young. He's 19. Yeah, very young. Who would want to run a council at 19 years old is another question. He clearly does. I think the people that have taken to the streets to protest feel as though finally their voices are being heard. I think there has been a feeling that in order to voice your views and speak about how you feel, you may be considered far right or racist. And I do want to stress that the vast majority of the people that I spoke to did have genuine concerns.

9:45But on the flip side, when I spoke to people, mainly off camera for Nina, from ethnic minority backgrounds that had lived in Anetan for a long time, they had told me that they had felt as though they were experiencing more racism. We did also speak to George Finch, who is the leader of that Warwickshire County Council. He believes that the Reform Party is actually the only party that's tackling the far right and that protesting genuine concerns about asylum seekers is not racist. But I do think that if you are racist and you do have those sorts of views, then you may also feel as though this is a great opportunity to hear those voices.

10:26So what do they make of what Labour is doing and the Labour government is doing? Policies weren't often discussed when I was speaking to people, whether that was from the Labour Party, Conservatives or reform. I think the reason why many of the people I spoke to felt as though reform were listening to them is because this is the issue that reform is driving hard on, right? But might it be that because Labour don't seem to be getting a grip, the Tories had their problems. I mean, they had 14 years to sort it out and they had their problems. That reform, you know, are the only game in town now that hasn't been given a chance.

11:05Is there that kind of feeling as well? I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I think many people were quite excited about the prospect of having a reform leader because they believe that finally, if he does come into power, this will be addressed. When I asked people what policies they wanted to support, there was a sense of frustration with the Conservative Party because they've had, as you've said, 14 years to deal with this issue. There was also a sense of the Labour Party not really understanding what the issue was. But when it came to reform, they believe that they are actually being listened to.

11:45For me, what was interesting, especially when I went to the protests on the very last day in Nuneaton, no one wanted to talk to me. They did not trust the media whatsoever. They believed that there's an agenda going on to try and hide their views. And I think ultimately it comes down to a lack of trust between people and politicians and also the systems around that. You were there a week. Just sum up your thoughts at the end of that week in terms of the asylum seeker problem in Nuneaton and, you know, perhaps in the UK. It's difficult to sum up a week, which was quite an eventful week. I think what I would say is the whole reason we wanted to do this piece on Nuneaton is because it's clear that the system is broken.

12:40I think my time in Unitan showed me that in some regards, the conversation has also broken down too. I think you have people that do have genuine concerns, concerns over safety, concerns over the cost of living and resources in this country. You have people that do understand the plight of asylum seekers too and actually want them to be safe and are worried about these protests and the impacts that the protests can have. The asylum seekers I've spoken to are also concerned about their future. They would also prefer it if the Home Office would process them slightly more quickly so that they can work and they can study.

13:17and then I think the residents that I spoke to I think there is a sense across this country that things are not getting better they're not improving and I think that although we were there to speak about asylum seekers and the arrival of asylum seekers actually what I felt was anger and frustration that their lives are not getting better as far as they're concerned and there doesn't seem to be anyone wanting to do anything about it in the immediate So there we are. Shaman, thank you very much indeed. Shaman's full report is available on the Sky News app right now. That's it for today. We're back tomorrow.

14:15Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how together they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in. The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow.