Dorset migrant barge plan ‘won’t end hotel use’, says minister

Hotels will be used to house thousands of asylum seekers for the foreseeable future – despite plans to place them in former military bases and barges, ministers have admitted. And at least one hotel has been “converted” so it can be used indefinitely.

There are currently 51,000 migrants in nearly 400 hotels across the country despite the Government previously insisting they were a “short-term solution”.

But Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick admitted: “Due to the continued pressures on the asylum estate, we are needing to use emergency accommodation hotels for a longer period than originally envisaged.”

He said the 170-year-old Great Northern Hotel in Peterborough, in the heart of the ancient cathedral city, had been converted “to longer-term contingency accommodation”.

And Mr Jenrick added: “There is no plan to decant this site.”

MPs warn the continued use of hotels for asylum seekers is damaging local economies as well as costing taxpayers £6million a day.

They include Tory Connor Burns who has told ministers a number of hotels in his Bournemouth West constituency are currently full, crippling the local leisure industry.

They have agreed to prioritise the removal of migrants in areas receiving levelling up funding in order to support businesses such as restaurants. Examples include the North Stafford Hotel in central Stoke, a Red Wall city containing three marginal seats.

Last week the Government confirmed plans to house asylum seekers at former military and training sites in Bexhill, East Sussex; Braintree, Essex; and Scampton, Lincolnshire, as well as on a barge berthed in Portland Port, Dorset.

But these sites will only accommodate 5,400 people once they are fully operational, leaving tens of thousands more in hotels until asylum claims are processed.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The number of people arriving who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“We have been clear the use of hotels is unacceptable. The Home Office is committed to making every effort to reduce hotel use and limit the burden on the taxpayer.”

Plans to house 500 migrants in Portland Port, close to Weymouth, are opposed by local Conservative MP Richard Drax as well as Dorset’s Tory-run council.

Mr Drax said: “Weymouth is a smallish seaside resort which relies on tourists, families, children on the beach. I don’t believe dumping 500 migrants, all young men, into this particular area is very wise.”

Source: Read Full Article