Doncaster MP calls for windfall tax on delivery companies employing asylum seekers

Sally Jameson, Labour MP for Doncaster Central, raised the issue in the House of Commons during a debate on borders and asylum.

She said: “As many are aware, a number of well-known delivery companies and other companies are employing asylum seekers with no right to work, which is helping to incentivise the boat crossings and ultimately to undermine our national security.

"Will the Home Secretary liaise with the Treasury before the Budget to discuss bringing in a windfall tax on some of those delivery companies, so that they can start contributing to the cost of a problem that they are helping to exacerbate?”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told her: “My honourable friend raises an important point about the gig economy and the need to ensure that it does not become rife with abuse and misuse when it comes to illegal working.

"That is why we are bringing in again, in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which unfortunately the Conservatives and Reform have continued to vote against, requirements for employers in the gig economy to abide by checks on illegal working.

"We have also recently signed with some of the major delivery companies a new agreement to share information, so that we can target abuse and crime.”

Last month, the Government said the location of hotels housing asylum seekers would be shared with food delivery companies as part of a crackdown on illegal working.

The agreement with Deliveroo, Just East and Uber Eats enables the firms to identify behaviour which indicates illegal working, such as an account spending a lot of time near one of the hotels.

The measure is also aimed at stopping delivery riders sharing their accounts with migrants who do not have the right to work in the UK.

Asylum seekers are not allowed to work for the first 12 months of being in the UK, or until their asylum application is approved.

But concerns have been raised that some migrants in the hotels have been earning money on the apps.

Last month, the food delivery firms committed to tightening checks on riders' identities and whether they had a right to work in the UK.

The Home Office said this action had led to thousands of people being removed from the platforms, and it hoped the new measures would go further.

Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats said they were committed to the plan and would be stepping up enforcement.