CHRIS Green, the MP for Bolton West, has hit out at the Mayor of Greater Manchester over his letter to the Home Secretary blaming the Government for the region's high levels of asylum seekers.

In the letter Andy Burnham called on Sajid Javid to intervene in the Government's "unfair expectation" that Greater Manchester accept a higher number of asylum seekers than other regions.

However Mr Green has slammed the mayors comments claiming that Manchester council's volunteer to take extra asylum seekers "in return for money", under the Gateway Project.

Mr Green said: “Bolton is full of good and decent people who want to do their bit to support asylum seekers however I believe that we have done more than our fair share.

“Despite this, Labour run Bolton Council and many other Labour run authorities across Greater Manchester opt in to the Gateway Project and just three years ago, Bolton took one third of all of the UK’s refugees. We simply do not have the right resources, infrastructure or plans for integration to cope with this large number of refugees that Bolton Labour are bringing here. I support Bolton Conservative Leader, Councillor Greenhalgh, who has said that if Bolton Council was under a Conservative majority, it would withdraw from the Gateway Project."