Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has rejected calls to take down an official government web page promising asylum seekers a home and £49.18 cash every week in the UK. She pledged to get immigration down a “record high of more than 900,000 under the last Conservative government” as she set out plans including revoking visas for foreign criminals and reforming citizenship rules by making migrants wait 10 years rather than five to apply for indefinite leave to remain. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the policies earlier in the day and Ms Cooper then presented them to Parliament.

But the Home Secretary was challenged to explain why there is a page on the official www.gov.uk government website advertising the benefits asylum seekers can expect to receive if they come here. Under the heading “what you’ll get”, the page promises: “You can ask for somewhere to live, a cash allowance or both as an asylum seeker.”

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It says: “You’ll be given somewhere to live if you need it. This could be in a flat, house, hostel or bed and breakfast. You cannot choose where you live. It’s unlikely you’ll get to live in London or south-east England.”

The web page then has a section with the heading “cash support”.

It says:”You’ll usually get £49.18 for each person in your household. This will help you pay for things you need like food, clothing and toiletries. Your allowance will be loaded onto a debit card (ASPEN card) each week. You’ll be able to use the card to get cash from a cash machine.”

However this figure will be reduced for asylum seekers placed in accommodation where they are given food, the web page says. It says: “If your accommodation provides your meals you’ll get £8.86 for each person in your household instead.”

And it says even people who are refused asylum might be given a home and help buying essential items.

The web page says: “You’ll be given: somewhere to live, £49.18 per person on a payment card for food, clothing and toiletries (or £8.86 per person if your accommodation provides your meals).

“You will not be given: the payment card if you do not take the offer of somewhere to live, any money.”

Questioning MS Cooper in the Commons, Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty said the website “is there for any aspirational English-speaking asylum seeker to see.”

But the Home Secretary simply attacked the Tories, saying: “We have inherited an asylum system in complete chaos.”