In keeping with our recent theme of the Tories being two-faced liars, we can report that the Government has announced it will stop using 50 hotels to house asylum seekers by January. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? That’s because, in the grand scheme of things, it probably is.
The announcement came from Robert Jenrick, the Conservative MP for Newark and the Government’s Immigration Minister when he confirmed the news in the House of Commons last week.
He said: “These hotels should be assets for their local communities… not housing illegal migrants at unsustainable costs to the taxpayer. As a result of the progress we’ve made to stop the boats, today the Home Office wrote to local authorities and MPs to inform them that we will now be exiting the first asylum hotels.”
Well, he’s certainly right about the unsustainable costs. By the end of March, the Home Office admitted it was responsible for sheltering 48,000 individuals in roughly 380 hotels across the country, incurring daily costs of £6.2 million. This works out to an average of £151 per person per night to house asylum seekers.
As for the progress they’ve made to stop the boats, he clearly thinks the public is stupid. The migrant boats keep arriving, with Home Office statistics indicating no decline in this trend. Projections suggest an additional 56,000 individuals might reach the UK by year’s end. Amazing progress, Robert.
Maggie Throup, the Conservative MP for Erewash, asked Mr Jenrick about the hotels in her constituency, saying: “Will my right honourable friend deliver on a commitment he made to me at the dispatch box on the 5th of September and confirm that the two hotels on Bostocks Lane in Sandiacre are the top of his priority list for closure. If he can’t deliver that good news, why not?”
The minister replied: “I did make a promise a year ago when I took on this role that we would close hotels, and I’m pleased to be able to deliver upon that today. We will be writing to all those who are part of the first tranche today or tomorrow, and I’d be very happy to stay in touch with her if she isn’t part of that tranche. But if she isn’t, then we’ll do everything we can to make sure that her hotels are exited very soon.”
In other words, he’s not yet delivered on his promise to Maggie. There’s no reason to believe that the Long Eaton hotels are on the tiny list of 50 hotels the Torys claim will close soon, so we advise the locals of Long Eaton, where the two hotels are situated, not to hold their breath.
But the real question we all should be asking is, what will happen to the migrants if these hotels are closed? We know the Government has no intention of deporting them, as it still holds itself to the ‘legal requirement’ to house all asylum seekers. So, the logical assumption is that they’ll just be moved elsewhere, which will most likely be houses and apartments.
The Government could theoretically convert any large building into accommodation. When Braintree District Council challenged the legality around the Government’s plans to place up to 1,700 asylum seekers at MDP Wethersfield, they replied that the significant arrival of small boats on British shores constituted a clear emergency and that the government was completely within its rights to invoke Class Q emergency planning powers, allowing them to bypass standard planning procedures for up to one year. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, it seems.
So, don’t let the Torys deceive you into thinking they’re trying to solve the problem. The migrants may be moved from place to place, but this does not mean they will be sent back to where they came from; they almost certainly won’t be.
