PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Asylum Seekers Accommodated in Hotels - 15 April 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

The Home Office has been clear that the use of hotels is a temporary and short-term measure to ensure that we meet our statutory obligation to accommodate destitute asylum seekers. We have made significant progress in closing over 100 asylum hotels as of the end of March. Our actions mean that there are over 20,000 fewer asylum seekers in hotels today compared with six months ago.

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right that the Government’s ambition is to close the hotels. We closed 100 by the end of March, and we are working towards closing 150 by May. Fundamentally, the objective is to alter the way in which people are accommodated and to introduce more cost-effective and appropriate approaches, but also to reduce the flow of people coming into this country illegally, which is the very best way of alleviating the pressures.

I welcome all the efforts that my hon. Friend is making to deal with and speed up the asylum process. However, will he outline what measures he considers when deciding which hotels to close in each tranche?

My right hon. Friend will recognise that value for money is a critical consideration that informs hotel closure decisions, as are operational deliverability and the notice periods on contracts. It is also about recognising the needs in particular locations and the challenges that these sites present. We have a plan, we are closing hotels, and we will continue to deliver on precisely what we promised.

For almost two years, the Sandpiper Hotel in Chesterfield has been used as a hotel for asylum seekers. The North Derbyshire Refugee Support Group has told me that not a single person who has stayed there has been asked to go back to their country. In fact, the vast majority of them have had their applications approved, which undermines the Government’s suggestion that all these asylum seekers are not entitled to be here. Actually, the Government approve the vast majority of applications, so their approach is a waste of money. Why do the Government continue to fail in this way? For the Minister to celebrate the extraordinary usage of hotels just because it is diminishing slightly is hopeless. When will we get the Sandpiper back in public use?

I thought it was interesting that a Labour insider said to The Times last week:

“We need a viable answer to what we’d do differently other than just ‘smash the gangs’”

and that

“we can’t currently say how we are going to tackle the demand side of the issue.”

They are absolutely right. I suspect we will be waiting a very long time for the answer. That goes right to the heart of the point that the hon. Gentleman raises. He says that we ought to be closing the hotels, but it is only this Government that have a credible plan to do just that.

Mr Speaker, may I pass on the condolences of myself and my party on the death of your father? We know you loved your father, and we know that your father loved you.

When it comes to reducing the number of asylum seekers, I want to suggest one option to the Minister that we could certainly do in Strangford. For those people who are in hotels, there are companies in my constituency that wish to employ them and to give them accommodation at the same time. If we want to help the asylum seekers in the hotels in my constituency, and in the consistency adjoining mine, then let them get the jobs and let them get the accommodation.

While I am always very willing to engage with the hon. Gentleman, he will appreciate that the difficulty that we have in respect of that approach is the pull factor that it would present—it would potentially encourage people to make dangerous journeys via small boats to get to the UK. We do not want to do anything that plays into the business model of the evil criminal gangs responsible for that miserable trade. What we want to do is put them out of business. On the wider accommodation point, I am very happy to engage with the hon. Gentleman.

In 2016, Middlesbrough had the highest ratio of asylum seekers per head of population of anywhere in England. I welcome the closure of hotels, but I worry about reports in today’s Daily Mail that the Home Office is buying up large amounts of property in some of the poorer areas of England, which risks taking us back to the situation we saw in 2016. Will the Minister reassure me that that is not the case, because my constituents are clear that that places an unacceptable strain on the community, and indeed an unhappy strain on community cohesion?

My right hon. Friend is a strong supporter of the work the Government are doing to get a better grip on the flow of people coming across to our country, who inevitably need accommodating while they are here. We have a mixture of accommodation to meet those needs, and getting the numbers down is critical to be able to reduce that dependence. I am able to say, however, that we are not actively pursuing procurement in the three local authorities cited in the article that my right hon. Friend references—and that includes Middlesbrough.

My sincere condolences, Mr Speaker.

The Government promised some considerable time ago that a hotel used in my constituency would no longer be used to house those seeking asylum. That is not the case; it has almost become de facto permanent. Could the Minister speak to me—not necessarily on the Floor of the House, but separately—and give me an assurance that there will be a managed closure of that facility?

What I cannot do on the Floor of the House is make commitments about specific hotels, but I would be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss this. What he could do to help me with this particular challenge is to get behind the work that the Government are doing to reduce the flow of people coming to the UK, which fundamentally and crucially would help us to be able to close hotels such as the one in his constituency.