Minister: 14 asylum hotels have opened since Labour came to power
Dame Angela Eagle said seven asylum hotels have also closed since July, representing a net increase of seven.
Fourteen asylum hotels have opened and seven closed since Labour came to power, according to a Home Office minister.
Dame Angela Eagle said there are currently 220 hotels in use as asylum accommodation, compared with a peak of more than 400 during the previous Conservative administration.
She said there has been a net increase of seven hotels used for accommodation since July, as she faced questions from MPs in the Commons.
Conservative former minister Sir Gavin Williamson said local authorities are having to reopen hotels for use as asylum accommodation because of “diktat” from the Government, as he raised concerns over the use of the Roman Way Hotel in Staffordshire.
Sir Gavin, MP for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge, said: “Nineteen thousand three hundred and twenty six people have crossed the Channel since the party opposite came into power, and this is 19% up on the same period last year, and 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 are seeing hotels being brought back into use, breaking a manifesto pledge from the party opposite.
“And 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.”
