Home Office has ‘had to find extra £2billion’ to fund hotels for asylum seekers as numbers housed in hotels ‘passes 50,000’ at cost of ‘£6million a day’
- The Home Office is ‘spending £6million each day’ on hotels for asylum seekers
- Migrants hotels in 43 of England’s 48 counties, leading to ‘£2billion overspend’
- Tory MPs hope the controversy resolves before the next election campaign
The Home Office has reportedly been forced to shore up an extra £2million to pay for hotel rooms for asylum seekers after the Government admitted there was no deadline in sight to stop their use.
For the first time, the number of migrants in hotels has reached 50,000, a vast increase from the 2,600 reported in March 2020.
The cost of the hotel accommodation is reported to be £6million per day, The Telegraph reports.
The newspaper’s investigation found asylum hotels were being used in 43 of England’s 48 counties.
Tory MPs have been nervously waiting for progress over the issue, with fears it could be a talking point during the next General Election.
The Best Western Premier Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth has stopped taking bookings for the foreseeable future
The Home Office has faced pressure from the Treasury to cut back on ‘expensive’ hotels while Suella Braverman’s team has called for a bigger budget.
A package of efficiency cuts has now been agreed by the Treasury to help plug the £2billion overspend on migrant hotels,
A senior Whitehall source told the Telegraph: ‘The Treasury has been frustrated that the Home Office is placing migrants in expensive hotels and has pushed them to look at cheaper alternatives.’
There have been fraught discussions between the Home Office and Treasury officials in recent weeks about the ballooning cost of hotel accommodation ahead of next week’s Budget.
Yesterday, it was reported a luxury spa hotel in a rural Leicestershire village has closed to guests and cancelled existing bookings so it can provide accommodation for 250 asylum seekers.
The Best Western Premier Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth – which includes a Marco Pierre White New York Italian restaurant – stopped taking reservations two weeks ago after bosses signed an ‘exclusive use contract’ with the Home Office to house refugees.
Locals have protested over the plans, claiming they were only told about the venue closing days before the asylum seekers moved in.
It is understood several staff have been made redundant as a result of the hotel shutting to members of the public.
Rita Pearson, 75, has lived in the village for 42 years and took part in protests outside the hotel last week with her husband Tony.
The hotel, which includes a Marco Pierre White restaurant, has been temporarily closed due to an ‘exclusive use contract by the Home Office’
A statement on Marco Pierre White’s (pictured) website stated: ‘Please be advised that the Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth, which includes Marco’s New York Italian restaurant, has been temporarily closed due to an exclusive use contract by the Home Office’
The retired administrator and grandmother-of-four said: ‘I feel we are too small of a village to house 250 asylum seekers.
‘We know a lot of people that used to work at the Yew Lodge that have been made redundant.
‘We were given hardly any notice about their arrival and so couldn’t really do a lot about it before they came. That is why we are complaining now.
‘The village of Quorn in Leicestershire went through a very similar thing a couple of months ago where one of their hotels was taken over to house asylum seekers, but because they had Jane Hunt the MP living in the village, the decision was overturned.
‘We haven’t got an MP or anyone living here to help us like they did so we feel aggrieved in Kegworth about the situation.’
The Best Western Premier Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth stopped taking reservations two weeks. Pictured: The food at Marco’s New York Italian in Kegworth
Local Kegworth resident Tony Pearson, 73, said: ‘There is nothing for them to do here, they have no money and can’t work so I don’t know what they are going to do all day.’
It is understood several locally-employed staff have been made redundant at the hotel (pictured) as a result of the closure to members of the public
Rita’s husband Tony, 73, added: ‘There is nothing for them to do here, they have no money and can’t work so I don’t know what they are going to do all day.’
The first asylum seekers arrived at the hotel at the beginning of the week and it is expected to be full by the weekend.
Mother-of-two Elisabeth Shepherd, 53, said locals were given ‘no notice’ about their arrival, and said that people were ‘frightened, including myself’.
She said: ‘A lot of the villagers use the resources at the hotel such as the gym, pool and restaurant and now we’ve haven’t got anything here to use and will have to turn elsewhere for these facilities.
‘People found out about the asylum seekers moving into the hotel because their gym memberships were instantly cancelled.’
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