20,000 fewer migrants housed in hotels as 50 more sites set to close
JAMES Cleverly has vowed to stop housing migrants in hotels – as 50 more sites are set to close.
The Home Office said it is making “rapid progress” in removing asylum seekers from the taxpayerfunded rooms. Some 150 hotels will have been shut by the start of May.
Home Secretary Mr Cleverly said 20,000 migrants have left, mostly to rented accommodation: “We promised to end the use of asylum hotels and house asylum seekers at more appropriate, cheaper accommodation. We will keep going until the last hotel is closed.”
Some 36,000 migrants remain in hotels. The Home Office would not say how much it will cost to move them into private housing but it has emerged that the bill for a migrant’s rented room may be as little as £30 a night compared with an average £127 daily in hotel settings.
The National Audit Office found that using ex-military bases and barges could cost £1.2billion – some £46million dearer than hotels. It said: “The Home Office originally assessed that large sites would be around £94million cheaper than hotels. Its latest estimates suggest they will cost £46million more.”
The NAO blamed an underestimate of costs at RAF Wethersfield and RAF Scampton and a slight fall in hotel prices. The Home Office had thought rooms would be £143.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of think tank Migration Watch UK, called the hotels policy a “costly joke...the poor old, put-upon taxpayer who is footing the mega-bill isn’t laughing”.
The PM faces the growing prospect of a Cabinet split on his threat to quit the European Convention on Human Rights in the long row over deportation flights to Rwanda. Mr Cleverly and
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are said to be among 12 ministers against that.
Critics see quitting the ECHR as the most effective way of ensuring the flights begin. But Mr Sunak was confident he would get the scheme “up and running” despite reported problems with finding aircraft and the sale of homes in the African nation meant for asylum seekers.
He said the Kigali government was “absolutely committed to delivering on our partnership”.
The Safety of Rwanda Bill returns to the Commons on Monday as the Government seeks to overturn changes made in the Lords.
Meanwhile, the EU has agreed a deal which will see member countries share asylum seeker numbers across the bloc, despite opposition.