Government to stop using Ipswich Novotel to house asylum seekers
The hotel was taken over a year ago to provide extra accommodation for migrants awaiting a decision on their status
Last updated 24th Oct 2023
The government has confirmed plans to cut the number of hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers, with Ipswich's Novotel among those to be returned to their original use.
The Novotel on Grey Friars Road was taken over last October and has since been used to house hundreds of people waiting for a decision on their immigration status.
Ipswich MP Tom Hunt has welcomed the move, which will see the government exit agreements with 100 hotels across the UK by next April.
Making a statement in the Commons earlier, Immigration Minister Robert 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."
Migrants will instead be moved to alternative accommodation , like disused military bases and barges, to cut costs.
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock labelled it "Tory boats chaos" as he accused Robert Jenrick of having the "brass neck" to announce a planned reduction in the use of hotels.
He said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's asylum strategy was "more in tune" with the Australian cricket team during this summer's Ashes, adding: "Cross your fingers and pray for rain. Surely the Prime Minister knows that this was the wettest summer since 1912, surely he recognises the impact that has had on small boat crossings?"
Mr Kinnock said the hotel announcement from Mr Jenrick showed the "utter lack of ambition" the Government has for the country, adding: "It beggars belief that the minister has the brass neck to come here today to announce not that the Government has cut the number of hotels being used, but that it simply plans to - and by a paltry 12%.
"Is that really it? Is that really the ambition? That there will still be 350 asylum hotels in use at the end of the winter despite promises last year they would end hotel use this year."