Asylum Seekers: Hotel Accommodation

Kevin Bonavia Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle]

No. The previous Government did not do that either, for safeguarding and public safety reasons, as the hon. Gentleman knows.

[Kevin Bonavia (Stevenage) (Lab)]

It is rather galling for the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) to protest about a hotel in his constituency being used. That is clearly the result of a backlog created by the Conservatives when in government, as they wasted hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on gimmicks that they knew would never work. Surely my hon. Friend agrees that the right answer is better and faster processing. That is fairer for those seeking asylum, fairer for those in communities where hotels are being used for asylum accommodation, and fairer for the taxpayer.

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I agree. Of course, the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) knows only too well that the same hotel was open from 21 November 2022 to 8 February 2024, and he did not complain about it in the House then.