Govt to stop housing asylum seekers in 50 hotels – but up to 400 are still being used

Published

11 months ago

October 24, 2023

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The government will stop using 50 hotels for asylum seekers by January, Sky News understands.

Ministers are expected to make the announcement as they continue attempts to reduce the amount of money being spent on accommodation that houses people waiting for a decision on their applications.

But many hotels will still be in use – with reports putting this number at up to 400.

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The cabinet are meeting in Downing Street this morning and ahead of the gathering, immigration minister Robert Jenrick was asked by reporters if he would deal with the hotels situation today.

He replied: “I hope so.”

The government estimates about £8m is being spent each day on hotels for asylum seekers.

According to the House of Commons Library, a total of 47,500 people were in accommodation by the end of March – compared with 9,500 in October 2020.

The Conservatives have attributed this to the rise in small boat crossings in the Channel, and the fallout of the COVID pandemic.

Opposition parties say the Home Office’s growing backlog of unprocessed applications is to blame.

The government has introduced a small number of alternatives to hotels in recent months, including former military bases and the Bibby Stockholm barge – the latter of which will house up to 500 male asylum seekers.

However, the rollout has not been straightforward.

Local MPs and residents have opposed these sites – and asylum seekers had to be removed from the barge following a Legionella outbreak.

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.