MP demands end to South Ribble asylum hotel

South Ribble’s MP has called on the government to set an exact date by which it will end the use of a hotel in his constituency as accommodation for asylum seekers – almost three years after it was closed to the public for that purpose.

The Best Western Hotel in Leyland shut its doors at short notice in April 2022 after it became one of a raft of hotels to be taken over by a government contractor in order to house asylum applicants.

Labour’s Paul Foster raised the issue of the Leyland Way facility’s continued closure in the Commons on Tuesday, telling Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle that there was “a chronic undersupply of hotels” in the district – and that he is asked by locals “every single week” when it will stop being used in the way it has been for so long.

Dame Angela said it was “pointless” to “name particular dates”, but added she wanted hotel usage to end “as quickly as is feasible”.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after his question in Parliament, Mr. Foster called on the government to go further and “work to a date, rather than it being open-ended”.

“I want to make it clear that I am not against asylum applications…in any way or form.   What we need is a longer-term solution than using hotels.

“[The Best Western] has been used for three years now – and there are hardly any hotels in and around Leyland and South Ribble.  It really is having a negative impact on our visitor economy.

“It was also one of the main [local] venues for weddings – and all the uses that you would like to see a popular local hotel [offer].

“So this isn’t an argument about asylum seekers – this is an argument about the government allocating the appropriate accommodation for asylum seekers, whilst they are waiting to have their claims heard.

“I get questioned on it weekly by businesses and individuals – and it’s frustrating that I don’t have an answer.   I would like to see the government roll out a programme of planned closures,” said Mr. Foster, who accused the previous Tory government of losing “complete control” of the country’s borders.

In its manifesto ahead of last year’s general election, Labour promised to “end asylum hotels”.

Angela Eagle said in the Commons on Tuesday:  “We’ve got to get through the appeals system and the first asylum processing system so that we can move people through the system much more quickly.

“We also need to continue our work on returns. We’ve ramped those up so that there’s been a huge increase in people returned – the highest figures for the last five years and we intend to continue with that process.”

According to a report by the House of Lords Library, the number of asylum seekers in hotels began to increase from the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, at which point there were around 1,200 individuals housed in such accommodation.

The figure peaked at 56,042 at the end of September 2023, while the latest government data shows it sat at 35,651 at the end of 2024.

However, shadow home secretary Chris Philp noted in the Commons debate that since Labour came to power, there had been an increase.

“The use of asylum hotels has gone up, in fact, by 8,000 since the general election…38,000, mainly illegal, immigrants are now in those hotels, costing hard-working taxpayers around £2 billion a year.

“It is completely unacceptable that taxpayers are asked to foot a bill this size. The people living in those hotels broke our laws by coming here from France. France is a manifestly safe country. Nobody needs to leave France.”

The Government earlier this month said 216 hotels were in use, with seven due to close by the end of April.

More than 400 hotels were housing asylum seekers at one stage under the previous government, at a reported cost of almost £9m per day.