The Home Office is facing accusations that it is “pouring fuel on the fire” after proposals emerged to sharply expand the number of asylum seekers housed in a Norfolk district recently hit by unrest over the issue.

At a meeting with Norfolk county councillors, officials acknowledged they are seeking to use 240 rooms in houses in multiple occupation, known as HMOs, to accommodate asylum seekers in Breckland.

The plan would amount to a 428 per cent rise on the current provision, which stands at 56 available beds.

Breckland includes Thetford, where a series of tense protests broke out over several consecutive nights early last month amid anger about occupants living at residential properties. In some cases, police were required to escort people away from the scene.

The town sits less than two miles from RAF Barnham, a former military base that has itself become the centre of months of demonstrations over plans to house at least 1,250 migrants there.

Scott Hussey, a senior Reform councillor on Norfolk County Council and Breckland District Council, described the HMO plans as a ‘double whammy’ for the area.

‘Not content with trying to turn RAF Barnham into a near-permanent super camp for illegal immigrants, the Home Office now admits they’ve only just got started with their programme of housing migrants in houses,’ he said.

‘Thetford has already taken the lion’s share of migrant houses and will likely see many more.

‘Other towns won’t be untouched either – there have already been protests in Watton and Thetford over this.

‘The Home Office will be pouring fuel on the fire if they press ahead with Barnham and an accelerated programme of housing young, single, undocumented men into the heart of our communities.

‘All of this has happened with no public consultation whatsoever. No wonder people are angry and frustrated.’

Sam Chapman-Allen, the Conservative leader of Breckland Council, has repeatedly complained about the government’s programme of ‘dispersed accommodation’ for migrants.

The policy was launched in an attempt to move away from hotel accommodation that was costing £8 million a day and caused protests around the country.

He said: ‘Central government’s policy of placing asylum seekers into communities without proper consultation, adequate infrastructure or the necessary support services is completely unacceptable and must change.

‘For months, I have challenged a national system in which decisions affecting our towns and villages are taken behind closed doors, with little transparency and no meaningful voice for the people expected to live with the consequences.

‘Breckland Council will not stand silently by while decisions are imposed on our communities.

‘We are demanding a fundamental change in national policy, full transparency over how and why sites are selected, and proper consultation with councils and residents before any decision is taken.’

Violence broke out in Thetford on August 4 when furious residents surrounded three houses rumoured to be used by asylum seekers.

The disorder continued the following night when two officers needed hospital treatment – one who was hit by a rock and another who was ‘seriously bitten’ during another protest – and went into a third evening. Several arrests were made.

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Protesters marched on Watton in May when migrants were relocated from the Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe, near Norwich, to properties in the town.

The hotel had been the scene of regular clashes between protestors and counter-protestors and put a huge strain on police resources.

Another Breckland town, Dereham, has been the focus of long-running disputes over a local hotel being used as a large-scale HMO for asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wants ‘all parts of the country’ to ‘play their part’ by accepting asylum seekers to their area.

The behind-closed-doors meeting between Home Office officials and Norfolk County Council took place on August 5.

In a transcript seen by the Mail, a civil servant said: ‘For Breckland, I believe there are 56 bed spaces that are available to us for what we call this dispersed accommodation.

‘I do not know whether there are 56 people in those bed spaces but we have the figure for the beds themselves. This is 23 per cent towards the target for Breckland.

‘We have a target for every local authority to achieve fair dispersal across the country. We are somewhere below where the target would normally be for Breckland.’

The meeting had already spiked concerns it emerged last month that officials from Shabana Mahmood’s department admitted the number of men housed at RAF Barnham – which sits on the doorstep of a community with just 600 people – could end up being ‘a lot more’.

Terry Jermy, the Labour MP for South West Norfolk who was elected with a slim majority of just 630 in 2024, said he welcomed ‘the progress the government is making in relation to reducing immigration’.

But he added: ‘I have been consistently against the use of HMOs and have called for the Home Office to stop this practice.’

Home Office figures show there were 97,519 people in receipt of asylum support at the end of March this year.

Of these, 72,768 were in ‘other’ accommodation including ‘dispersal’ accommodation typically comprising flats or houses often set up as HMOs. 

Another 20,885 were in hotel accommodation, while 3,866 were getting subsistence support only – meaning they solely received weekly money from the Government for basic living needs such as food, clothing and toiletries.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The concerns of communities are central to our immigration reforms. 

‘That is why we are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.

‘We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities, and we have saved taxpayers over £1 billion on asylum support costs since the election.’

Persistent brain fog, recurring headaches and a crushing tiredness that lingers day after day are often blamed on poor sleep, a fast-food-heavy diet or the natural effects of aging.

Yet health specialists warn these common complaints may point to a lesser-known nutritional problem: folate deficiency.

Folate, or vitamin B9, plays a vital role in the body, supporting DNA production and repair while helping create red blood cells needed to deliver oxygen to key organs.

The nutrient is also involved in breaking down homocysteine, an amino acid found in the bloodstream that, when levels climb too high, has been linked to an increased risk of blood clots and heart attacks.

Because the body cannot make folate itself, it must come from the diet, including foods such as dark leafy greens and Brussels sprouts. Fortified cereals and dietary supplements provide folic acid, the synthetic form of vitamin B9.

Folate and folic acid are especially crucial for pregnant women, as the nutrient builds the baby’s neural tube that eventually grows into the brain and spinal cord. 

While estimates suggest that true folate deficiency is rare, one in five Americans doesn’t get enough, including men, non-pregnant women and older adults. 

Experts told the Daily Mail that insufficient levels of folate prevent the body from making red blood cells, leading to the blood disorder megaloblastic anemia, which causes extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, numbness in the hands and feet and sores around the mouth.

It’s also crucial for sperm production in men, and a deficiency may potentially raise the risk of fertility problems.

‘The human body requires folates for DNA synthesis, cell division and healthy red blood cell production,’ Dr Robert Thompson, family medicine physician and medical contributor at Care Point Boston, told the Daily Mail.

‘Therefore, it is important to consume folate throughout one’s life and not just during pregnancy.’

Natural folate is found in dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale, beans, peas, nuts and citrus fruits like oranges. 

Folic acid, meanwhile, is a synthetic form of folate added to fortified foods such as bread and cereal. 

It’s also a major component of prenatal vitamins meant for women who are pregnant or trying to conceive.

‘The intake of folic acid has a unique place due to its importance at an extremely early stage of embryonic growth,’ Dr Thompson said. 

‘Taking sufficient folic acid before you are pregnant or during your first trimester will greatly reduce the chance of your fetus developing a neural tube defect.’

Neural tube defects include spina bifida and anencephaly, a fatal condition in the womb that occurs when parts of the brain, skull and scalp fail to properly develop. 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends women of childbearing age take a prenatal containing 400 to 800 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid per day.

Outside of pregnancy, folate is a vitamin needed regularly in everyone’s diet, Dr James J Chao, plastic surgeon and chief medical officer and co-founder of VedaNu Wellness, told the Daily Mail. 

‘Many of the cells we need most rely on folate. These include red blood cells, cells lining your digestive tract, and white blood cells,’ he said. 

‘It also works in concert with another B vitamin, B12, helping to lower blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine by converting it to another amino acid, methionine.’

Methionine serves as a building block for creating proteins and further converts into antioxidants that fight inflammation. 

Chao explains that folate is necessary ‘for optimal sperm production’, as it protects sperm cells from suffering DNA damage and allows them to repair themselves. 

Low levels of folate raise the risk of sperm cell DNA becoming fragmented, reducing the sperm’s quality and movement.

Women with heavy periods may also benefit from folate because it supports red blood cell production that can combat anemia caused by menstrual blood loss. 

Chao also notes that folate ‘deserves focus in older adults’ because they ‘absorb it less well’ naturally due to ageing and lower food intake.

Alcohol can also interfere with folate absorption by damaging cells lining the digestive tract and inhibiting the expression of proteins needed to transport folate past the intestinal wall. Chronic alcohol use also makes the liver less able to store circulating folate. 

Federal health authorities recommend men, older adults and adult women who are not pregnant or trying to conceive consume 400 mcg of folate each day. While most groups can reach that level through food sources, older adults or those with alcohol use disorder may benefit from additional supplementation, Chao notes. 

‘Signs and symptoms of folate deficiency depend on the stage of deficiency but can include fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, irritability and poor appetite,’ he said. 

‘Brain fog, forgetfulness and confusion can occur. These symptoms are commonly missed and treated as normal age-related decline in cognition.’

Folate deficiency may also impair brain health in the long term. One 2022 study in the European Journal for Clinical Nutrition found that low folate was associated with faster cognitive function decline in older adults. 

Other red flag signs that may warrant a folate supplement or increased dietary sources include a red, swollen or painful tongue, mouth ulcers, heart palpitations and shortness of breath. 

Despite folate’s benefits, it is possible to get too much of a good thing. Health authorities recommend adults get no more than 1,000 mcg each day, as high doses may cause nausea, cramps and diarrhea. 

The Green Party’s deputy leader, whose party has backed plans aimed at abolishing landlords, is reportedly a private landlord himself.

Mothin Ali, a Leeds city councillor, owns two buy-to-let homes in the city’s Gipton area, both of which are understood to be occupied by tenants.

Ali has been co-deputy leader of Zack Polanski’s Green Party in England and Wales since last September.

The following month, at the party’s conference, Green members approved a motion introducing a policy called “Abolish landlords”.

Under the proposal, the party said it would seek to deliver the “effective abolition of private landlordism” through a combination of regulation and taxation.

But reports now suggest that Mr Ali, 44, is himself the owner of two rental properties.   

The politician purchased the first home – a three-bed former council house – for £165,000 in June 2022, according to The Sunday Times. 

That came before he paid £157,000 for a second property in March last year, months before he was handed the co-deputy role. 

The report suggests that Mr Ali bought the two homes through his own private limited company, MA Holdings.

Mr Ali declined to reveal how much he charges his tenants to rent the first property, which is believed to be occupied, but rental homes in Gipton are generally available for between £1,000 and £1,300. 

A spokesman for the Green Party told The Times: ‘We have provided deeply personal information to your newspaper in confidence which shows that Councillor Ali has acted solely in the interests of vulnerable close family members for whom he has caring responsibilities. 

‘At Councillor Ali’s request, we are not going to make this information public to protect his family.’ 

Mr Ali claimed that he declared the ownership of his first property to Leeds City Council when he was elected in May 2024. He also said he notified the council when he purchased the second property.

This is, however, not the first time that the 44-year-old has been the subject of controversy. 

Mr Ali declared his triumph at the 2024 elections a ‘win for the people of Gaza’ in a rowdy post-victory speech, before adding: ‘We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine! Allahu Akbar!’

A short time later the politician found himself shrouded in further controversy when comments from his TikTok following the October 7 attacks were unearthed. 

Mr Ali had labelled Israel ‘white supremacists’ and claimed Gaza was the ‘biggest concentration camp the world has ever seen’. 

Away from politics, Mr Ali is a keen gardener. He runs a YouTube channel dedicated to the hobby which has racked up thousands of views. 

His most popular video is a tutorial on how to make fast compost at home which has more than 1.2million views. 

The Greens’ decision to pass the ‘abolish landlords’ motion last year was made at a party gathering in Bournemouth. 

The motion stated: ‘The private rental sector has failed, it is a vehicle for wealth extraction, funnelling money from renters to the landlord class.

‘This motion makes it clear Green Party policy is to seek the effective abolition of private landlordism and our support for building council housing.’

Party leader Mr Polanski later argued that a lack of regulation within the private rental sector was turning tenants into ‘cash cows’. 

Mr Ali, however, is not the only Green politician to have been caught out owning a rental property. 

It emerged a short time before the motion was passed that Adrian Ramsay, one of the party’s MPs, was a landlord in Norfolk. 

At the time, the politician’s parliamentary register of interests revealed that he rented out a co-owned room, which provided rental income of more than £10,000 per year.  

The MP for Waveney Valley had previously defended being a landlord, posting on social media in August 2025: ‘I co-own a property with my ex-wife, which we used to live in.

‘I don’t make a profit from it as I have kept the rent below market rate. I don’t intend to be a landlord long-term.’

Mr Polanski only confirmed this week that he wants to be the Green candidate in the by-election for Sir Keir Starmer’s old seat in Holborn and St Pancras. 

The party leader said he was ‘excited’ by the prospect of representing the region as he ‘loves the community’. 

It came after Sir Keir announced his immediate departure in what was another U-turn from the former Prime Minister.  

Speaking to the Camden New Journal, Mr Polanski said: ‘I have lived and worked in this community over many years, I know it well and I love it.

‘It represents so many of the things that make London so special. I am so excited by the prospect of representing this place in Parliament.’

He added: ‘Holborn and St Pancras has everything that’s the best of our country and so much potential.

‘But for too long now it’s been held back by governments who have failed to make the changes to improve people’s lives.

‘We know that the Greens can win here, and by electing me, voters will have someone who will always fight their corner – never scared of big donors or the party whip. Too often Labour has stood up for corporations and big money. I will stand up for people struggling to pay their bills.’

The move provides Prime Minister Andy Burnham with a headache. Labour has held the inner London constituency since 1983, though it now faces the real prospect of losing the seat.  

A man suffered serious injuries, including fractured vertebrae, after jumping from a window to escape a violent attack by his privately educated former girlfriend shortly after their relationship ended.

Ashley Compton was stabbed in the arm, strangled and struck with household objects, including a saucepan, before he fled through the window to get away from Shannon Galligan, 28.

The assault took place at Galligan’s home in Norwich shortly before Christmas 2024, following the breakdown of the couple’s long-term relationship.

Galligan, a former pupil at the £25,000-a-year Norwich School — previously King Edward VI Grammar School, founded in 1547 under a royal charter granted by Edward VI and with alumni including Admiral Lord Nelson — avoided immediate prison after a judge handed her a two-year suspended sentence, despite calling the case “serious domestic violence”.

Norwich Crown Court was told that Mr Compton had gone to his ex-partner’s room in shared accommodation in the Norfolk city after the pair had separated.

She became ‘angry’ for reasons that were not given in court and grabbed a saucepan which she used to hit him ‘on the back of the head’, prosecutor Marc Brown said.

The defendant then seized a knife and ‘shoved it into the back of the door’ before she grabbed her victim by his throat.

Mr Compton, who was described as ‘afraid’, tried to pull her hand away before he was stabbed in the arm, although he didn’t realise she had done so until later.

He then tried to escape down the stairs but was hit with a pole, at which point he ‘jumped from the window’ in the ground floor living room before escaping.

The injuries he sustained as he hit the ground included the broken vertebrae and multiple bruises.

Galligan, who works as a cleaner at Homebase according to her Facebook account, had been charged with wounding with intent but the prosecution accepted her guilty plea to unlawful wounding.

She also admitted intentional strangulation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

Danielle Donovan, defending, said her client – whose Facebook entry also states she became engaged on New Year’s Day 2020 – was ‘ashamed and appalled’ by her behaviour but said she suffered from ADHD and had struggled to cope in life.

Handing down the sentence, which was suspended for 18 months, Judge Bate said he was taking into account Galligan’s neurodivergence and her guilty pleas and accepted the prospect of rehabilitation was ‘good’.

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She was also ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, given up to 20 days Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and made the subject of a restraining order which bans her from contacting the victim directly or indirectly for four years.

Norwich School is a private selective day school which can trace its history back to 1096 when it was established as an episcopal grammar school by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich.

It moved to Grade I listed Blackfriars Hall, which used to be a Dominican priory church, early in the 16th century before it was refounded under the royal charter.

It moved to its current site beside Norwich Cathedral in 1551.

Other alumni at the school, which has around 1,200 pupils aged between four and 18, include billionaire former Tory deputy chairman and pollster Lord Ashcroft.

Detective Sergeant Amy Nunn said after the hearing: ‘I would like to thank the victim for the courage he showed in coming forward and supporting our investigation.

‘Thanks to his bravery and the dedication of the investigating team, we were able to bring Shannon Galligan before the courts so a judge could sentence her. 

‘We would always encourage anyone who has experienced domestic violence to come forward knowing they will be supported.’

The Crime Survey for England and Wales covering the year ending March 2025 showed that an estimated 2.2 million females and 1.5 million males, aged 16 years and over, had suffered domestic abuse in the previous 12 months.

This was equivalent to approximately 9.1 per cent of females and 6.5 per cent of males.

A significantly higher proportion of people in the age groups of 16 to 19 and 20 to 24 years were victims of domestic abuse, compared with those aged 25 years and over. 

Last month it emerged more than 9,000 domestic abusers are set to walk Britain’s streets within three years under Labour’s early prison release scheme.