Wigan does not figure in first wave of migrant hotel closures

On Tuesday (October 24), immigration minister Robert Jenrick announced to Parliament that 50 establishments around the four nations would cease being home to asylum seekers as part of a new crackdown on reducing UK migrant numbers and small boat crossings of the Englsh Channel.

He said that he had written to local authorities informing them of the hotels identified, some of which would begin closing within days and all of which would be shut within three months.

But Wigan Today has received confirmation from Wigan Council that it has received no such letter, so it is presumed that both the Britannia and Kilhey Court on opposite sides of Standish will stay open, at least for now.

The Britannia has accommodated migrants for several years, itself generating complaints from different parts of the political spectrum, whether the issues be about the unsuitability of the location or allegations about certain guests’ behaviour.

Then in August Wigan Today revealed that the borough’s swankiest hotel, Kilhey, was also to be requisitioned by the Home Office and its asylum seeker accommodation firm Serco for the same purpose, despite the government's repeatedly stating that hotels were an unsuitable (and very expensive) way of housing migrants.

Mr Jenrick this week told MPs the process of “exiting” the first tranche of accommodation will begin in the coming days.

In a statement to the Commons, he said the plans are possible because of “the progress we’ve made to stop the boats.”

But his opposite number, Stephen Kinnock, said the announcement demonstrates the Government’s “utter lack of ambition” as the number amounts to a “paltry” 12 per cent of total usage.

Mr Jenrick said: “I can inform the House that today the Home Office wrote to local authorities and MPs to inform them that we will now be exiting the first asylum hotels, hotels in all four nations of the UK.

“The first 50 of these exits will begin in the coming days and will be complete by the end of January with more tranches to follow shortly, but we will not stop there.

“We will continue to deliver on our strategy to stop the boats and we will be able to exit more hotels. And as we exit these hotels, we are putting in place dedicated resource to facilitate the orderly and effective management of this process and limit the impact on local communities.”

In March, the Government introduced plans to house asylum seekers on disused military bases and barges in a bid to cut spending on hotels, which has hit £8m a day.

That month, around 47,500 people were using hotel accommodation, according to the House of Commons Library.

Some migrants have been moved back on to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, after the discovery of Legionella bacteria in its water supply led to an evacuation in August.

Mr Jenrick said occupancy on the 500-person-capacity vessel had reached approximately 50 individuals on October 23.

Another Government plan announced in April 2022, under which some asylum seekers would be sent to Rwanda, is currently held up in the courts, with a deportation flight yet to take off.

Shadow immigration minister Mr Kinnock accused Mr Jenrick of having the “brass neck” to announce not that the Government had cut the number of hotels, but that it “simply plans to, and by a paltry 12 per cent”.

He also questioned whether the hotels selected for the first tranche of “exiting” are located in marginal seats, as some reports have previously suggested.

“Does he really think the public might not see through that ruse?” Mr Kinnock said, asking whether the Government will publish a list naming the 50 hotels.

“He sounds like an arsonist who’s burned our house down and is expecting us to thank him for throwing a bucket of water on it.”

Mr Kinnock pointed to the weather in accusing the Conservatives of performing poorly in their bid to stop boat crossings in the Channel, saying the journeys are continuing despite the 2023 summer having been the “wettest since 1912”.

Mr Jenrick joked in his reply: “Every time I come to this chamber it’s about the weather. The honourable gentleman is becoming the Michael Fish of British politics – he always gets the forecast wrong.”

He confirmed that a hotel in Labour MP Sir George Howarth’s seat of Knowsley, which was the focus of disorder earlier this year, is among those in the first tranche.

A police van was set on fire and missiles were thrown at officers after a demonstration outside the accommodation, which Mr Jenrick said “highlights why this is not an appropriate form of accommodation”.

The immigration minister described the plans as a “milestone” but not enough” and not a moment for “triumphalism”.

Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke, in whose Dover seat migrant boats frequently arrive, praised the Government for making what she described as “immense efforts” to tackle the issue.

Mr Jenrick responded: “Although today marks significant progress, and certainly very significant progress compared to what we are seeing in other European countries, this quite clearly is not enough.

“Her constituents want us to stop the boats in their entirety, and that is what we are setting out to do. So today is not a day for triumphalism, it’s a milestone.

“Tomorrow we get back to work and we get back to stopping the boats.”

Some 26,501 people have been brought ashore after making the dangerous journey across the Channel since the start of 2023, which compares with more than 37,000 by this point last year.

The Refugee Council warned that cutting the number of hotels could be a factor in what it described as a developing “homelessness crisis” among migrants.

Chief executive Enver Solomon said: “The cost and chaos of an asylum backlog that has spiralled out of control is a result of gross Government failure leaving people in limbo for years on end.

“In closing hotels we are now seeing a homelessness crisis developing with newly recognised refugees being given as little as seven days before they are evicted from accommodation.

“Instead of being a moment of celebration, receiving refugee status is, for far too many, currently a ticket to homelessness with the cost being passed on to councils.”

A spokesperson for Wigan Council confirmed today that no letter about vacating either of Standish’s hotels had been received.