Asylum hotels chaos caused by ‘failure to plan’ for Channel crossings surge, minister admits

The government’s chaotic scramble to find hotels to house asylum seekers was caused by a “failure to plan” for the volume of people crossing the Channel, the immigration minister has admitted.

Robert Jenrick was questioned by several Conservative MPs who had not been given notice that hotels in their constituencies would be used as temporary accommodation in parliament on Wednesday.

Ben Bradley, who represents Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, said a hotel in the area was set up on Saturday, but he was not told until Sunday, and on Monday several local people “presented themselves as homeless after being kicked out”.

Mr Jenrick responded: “This is not a situation that any of us would want to be in, it’s the product of record numbers of people crossing the Channel and of a failure to plan in the months prior to this sudden surge.

“We need to move forward, ensure Manston is operating legally and correctly as our first duty, and then ensure that any further accommodation is procured in a sensible way, and have proper communications with local authorities.”

Home secretary Suella Braverman was accused of unlawfully detaining asylum seekers at Manston, a former military base in Kent, after failing to procure sufficient accommodation for them to be moved to.

The processing centre is intended to hold a maximum of 1,600 people for around 24 hours, but at its peak last month held 4,000 people, with some families sleeping in tents for more than a month.

Cases of diphtheria and scabies have been reported, and the immigration watchdog said that the conditions he witnessed left him “speechless”.

The most recent Home Office figures indicate that the government is spending £7m a day on hotel rooms for asylum seekers and resettled Afghans because of a lack of official accommodation.

Asylum hotels have been targeted by far-right groups and violent threats have intensified following a terror attack on the Western Jet Foil reception centre in Dover.

The number of asylum claims under consideration has hit a record after decision-making slowed – with some people in limbo for years – and the government has a legal duty to house destitute asylum seekers awaiting a verdict.

Ministers have defended their response to what they called “unprecedented strain” on the system, following the arrival of more than 40,000 people in small boats so far this year.

Although the numbers have been higher than previously, similar patterns have been followed from month to month, and November 2021 saw the highest numbers of that year.

On Monday, the home secretary signed a new agreement with France and committed the UK to paying £63m for increased patrols and security in northern France.

It brings the total amount of money promised to the French government in a series of similar deals aiming to tackle clandestine Channel crossings and small boats to £232m – but numbers have continued to rise.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, questioned why the agreement did not include arrangements to return asylum seekers to France – which were lost during Brexit – or anything on increasing safe and legal alternatives to Channel crossings.

She called the level of smuggling convictions “pitiful”, adding: “Too often this Home Office talks about things but isn’t delivering.”

Mr Jenrick said the home secretary was meeting her counterparts at the G7 forum on Wednesday and would discuss the issue.

He said the government’s overall aim was to have a “system based on resettlement scheme whereby we choose people at source … and we don’t waste hundreds of millions of pounds wasting a problem of economic migrants who should not be in the UK”.

The immigration minister said that Britain would be “suffused with deterrents so that people don’t make the crossing in the first place”, but claimed deterrents such as Royal Navy patrols, the stalled Rwanda scheme and social media campaigns have so far failed to reduce numbers.

He added that he and Ms Braverman were reviewing the “legal framework” around asylum claims, despite a huge raft of laws in the Nationality and Borders Act earlier this year, but did not give further details.

Official figures show that 93 per cent of people arriving in small boats claim asylum, and the vast majority decided applications were granted.

Mr Jenrick has been reported to the UK statistics watchdog over previous statements in parliament on the issue, and accused of “twisting” figures.