TORY government plans to strip back fire safety regulations from accommodation used to house asylum-seekers are “utterly shameful and could have tragic consequences,” the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned.

The union, which has long stood in solidarity with vulnerable refugees, slammed the “callous and reckless approach” from Downing Street, which is coming under increasing pressure to move a huge backlog of asylum-seekers out of taxpayer-funded hotels and into cheaper accommodation.

The government’s own failure to process claims quickly is to blame for the worsening situation, campaigners argue.