'Too Cold and They Don't Speak English': Afghan Refugees Refuse Homes in Scotland and Wales

Afghan asylum seekers are refusing to be re-settled in Scotland or Wales as they complain it's too cold — and the locals don't speak English.

Sources told the Daily Telegraph that those who fled the Taliban's* rapid resurgence last August in the chaotic and bloody Western evacuation of Kabul arrived with the London-centric mindset typical of the British middle classes.

"Officials are understood to be 'working hard' to break down misconceptions about life outside the south-east of England but admit that refugees coming to the country see the UK through the prism of London," the paper reported on Thursday.

Some 7,000 of the Afghan asylum claimants — those who worked for the US-NATO occupation forces and their families — have accepted permanent housing.

But another 9,500 are currently living in British hotels, costing the taxpayer around £1 million per day.

A further £3 million is spent daily on temporary accommodation for 26,000 other asylum-seekers, including those trafficked illegally across the English Channel.

Refugees Minister Lord Richard Harrington wrote to local authorities in late June to say the government was looking for another 2,000 homes — including 500 four-bedroom properties — for 10,500 asylum claimants. He said private landlords, property developers and even the online sales and rental website Rightmove had been approached.

The Home Office said in a statement that it was dealing with the "challenge" of finding enough housing "not just for Afghans and those in need of protection but also British citizens who are also on a waiting list for homes."

"While hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation," it added.

Asylum seekers awaiting permanent housing told BBC 2's Newsnight that the situation was keeping them from starting a new life in the UK.

"I want to settle and integrate but how can I when we are living in a hotel for months and months? I can’t start my life properly," said Mohammad, who came to the UK with his wife and two children after working for the British occupation forces.

He said they had been living in a single hotel room since September last year and his wife was struggling to cope. "I don’t blame her because I know the situation. She is in that room for one year with two kids. These are kids, and she is depressed, so things are not good."

*The Taliban is an organization under UN sanctions over terrorist activities.