Leaders criticise MP's housing and crime comments

A council leader and police commissioner (PCC) have criticised comments made about Runcorn by the area's Reform MP about crime and housing.

Sarah Pochin made claims about crimes being committed in houses of multiple occupation in the town in her maiden speech to Parliament.

Labour PCC Dan Price said "no evidence" had been provided to Cheshire Police on reports of crimes in HMOs, while the force said it was "not aware of any widespread issues" relating to HMOs in the area.

Mrs Pochin said she had CCTV footage of "late-night knife and drug crime" and had been crime reference numbers.

In her maiden speech, Mrs Pochin said there were a number of "illegal immigrants" in Runcorn and that HMOs were "breeding grounds for organised crime gangs".

She also made similar comments on BBC Politics North West.

In a joint statement, the politicians said they did not know where her information had come from and called on her to retract her comments.

Mike Wharton, the Labour leader of Halton Borough Council, said: "Our communities deserve factual information, and we are here to provide that to them.

"Halton Borough Council stand willing to provide factual information to Mrs Pochin, in order to assist her in her duties to advocate for and assist her constituents in Runcorn."

Dan Price, the Labour Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said he did not "recognise the picture that Sarah Pochin tries to paint of Runcorn".

"It's not based on reality," he said.

"On several occasions Mrs Pochin has stated to have seen CCTV providing evidence of criminal activity.

"To date, no reports or evidence has been provided to Cheshire Police or to my office by Mrs Pochin, despite the MP having had several opportunities to do so."

Sarah Pochin said: "My constituents are raising serious concerns about the rise in HMOs housing asylum seekers.

"We've received first-hand accounts from those living next door, backed up by CCTV footage of late-night knife and drug crime, intimidating behaviour by gang members and unacceptable noise.

"Despite the PCC claiming to be unaware of this, which in itself is a concern, we have crime reference numbers from Cheshire Police. This isn't hearsay - it's happening in our community. And if you live next door to one of these HMOs, it's a living nightmare."

She said the response of Labour councillors in the area was "arrogance, dismissal, [and] silence".

Cheshire Police said it was "not aware of any widespread issues or concerns relating to homes of multiple occupation in the Runcorn area".

It said it received eight reports of incidents at one HMO in Brookvale between May and November last year.

It said five of these were reports of burglaries - four of which it was found there was no crime committed and one report remaining under investigation, two reports of people congregating at the address and one report of anti-social behaviour involving a group of youths near the property.

"There have been no further reports of any incidents at a HMO since 15 November 2024," the force said.

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