Four-star hotel in Canary Wharf earmarked for asylum seekers
Protesters gathered outside the Britannia International Hotel on Tuesday night after incorrect reports claiming asylum seekers were being transferred from Epping to London's financial district.
The Home Office later clarified this was not the case.
However, according to Tower Hamlets Council, Labour intends to repurpose the London hotel as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.
On Wednesday morning, workers were pictured wheeling beds and mattresses into the hotel.
A spokesman for the authority said: 'We are aware of the Government's decision to use the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.
'It is important that the Government ensures that there is a full package of support for those staying at the hotel.
'We are working with the Home Office and partners to make sure that all necessary safety and safeguarding arrangements are in place.'
According to websites like Booking.com, the hotel is not 'taking reservations on our site right now'.
Metropolitan Police officers were seen guarding the hotel on Tuesday night as protesters congregated outside the hotel on the Isle of Dogs.
The hotel is situated on the waterfront of the South Dock, looking out on JPMorgan's headquarters 200m away.
It comes amid a series of demonstrations outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which were triggered by asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, being charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.
Mr Kebatu denied the charge when he appeared at Chelmsford magistrates' court on Thursday.
Apsana Begum, the independent MP covering the Canary Wharf area, responded to the protests by saying refugees were welcome in her constituency, while 'the far-right' is not.
She wrote on X: 'In Poplar and Limehouse, we are clear: refugees are welcome here.
'In the face of relentless demonisation and targeting, we continue to stand with migrants for their rights to safety and dignity. It's the far-right and their hateful ideology that are not welcome here.'
Ms Begum had the Labour party whip removed in July 2024 for voting to scrap the two child benefit cap.
At the protests, Lorraine Kavanagh, 70, who has been working for a food bank on the Isle of Dogs for 42 years serving over 1,000 people a week, said the homeless 'cannot afford to come in here [the Britannia International Hotel] for one night for an anniversary or for a birthday'.
She told The Express: 'The school holidays have now started [...] so the kids are now out on the streets, where they should be; they should be out there playing.
'Parents should not be terrified that their children are out and could be [...] approached, spoken to by people who have no passports, no identity.'
Lee Anderson MP, the chief whip of Reform UK, said he had received confirmation from the police present in Canary Wharf that the hotel will be used to house asylum seekers.
'I'm absolutely furious,' he said in a video posted on X, adding: 'This hotel must cost a couple hundred quid a night to stay there. Most normal people in this country would not even be able to afford to stay here for a weekend.'
Britannia describes its hotel as a 'modern, glass-fronted building close to the internationally famous business district' sporting 'superb views over the London Skyline', two on-site restaurants, bars and en-suite bedrooms, making it the 'perfect base for a city break'.
Asked whether there were plans to house asylum seekers at the Britannia Hotel in the near future, a Home Office spokesman said: 'Asylum seekers are not being removed from The Bell Hotel in Epping.'
The spokesperson was alluding to the rumour on social media that asylum seekers were being transferred from Epping to Canary Wharf.
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