Labour admits opening more asylum hotels than it has closed – ‘breaking another promise’.uk
A Conservative MP has accused the government of lacking “transparency” as it emerged that more asylum hotels have opened since they took office than closed.
The number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers has risen from 213 to 220 since July (Image: Getty)
Tory MPs have accused Labour of reneging on another election promise as more asylum hotels have opened than closed since they took office.
Dame Angela Eagle, the border security minister confirmed this week that the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers has risen from 213 to 220 since July despite a manifesto pledge to end the practice of housing those claiming asylum in this way.
There are currently 30,000 migrants in hotels at a cost of more than £4.2 million a day to the taxpayer.
Sir Gavin Williamson, former defence secretary, has accused the government of a “total lack of transparency” as it was revealed that Labour have closed just seven asylum hotels since coming to power but have opened 14 over that time.
Mr Williamson was speaking in the House of Commons after writing to the government to express his “dismay” at a hotel in his constituency – Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge – being stood up to house asylum seekers.
Angela Eagle confirmed that the number of asylum hotels had increased since July (Image: Getty)
He said: “This is all in the context of a pledge by the party opposite in their manifesto in July to end asylum hotels.
“So you can imagine the devastation that so many constituents across the country are feeling when they see hotels being brought back into use, breaking a manifesto pledge from the party opposite.
“It is a total lack of transparency – there isn’t consultation with local authorities. It’s a diktat that they receive with no support and no help.”
The use of hotels to house those seeking asylum has long been a contentious issue (Image: Getty)
Ms Eagle defended the action taken by the government since July’s election victory, claiming that they had managed to speed up the asylum application process.
She claimed that asylum cases were being processed from a virtual standstill of 1,000 a month before the election to 10,000 a month now, with a backlog exceeding 100,000.
Ms Eagle said: “We cannot exit people from the asylum estate until they have got a final decision, and we inherited two year-plus backlogs in the tribunal system because they didn’t fund them properly.
“We have in the last period returned nearly 10,000 people, which is a nearly 20 per cent increase on the numbers that were returned last year.”
