Hundreds of asylum seekers to be removed from hotels in England

The Guardian

11-04-2025

Hundreds of people seeking asylum are to be removed within weeks from nine hotels across England as the Home Office seeks to show that it has got to grips with the issue.
The crackdown will include the closures of a hotel in a village near Windsor Castle after claims of community tensions and racism, and hotels in the West Midlands and Cheshire that have been targeted by far-right activists.
Manor hotel in Datchet, Berkshire, which is a mile and a half from the castle, is one of nine hotels that the Home Office plans to empty by July.
Reports have claimed that the village close to the royal residence in Berkshire has been turned into a 'hellhole' by people staying in the 54-bedroom hotel.
Asylum seekers moved out of the hotels are expected to be placed in longer term temporary housing, mostly flats or shared houses, managed by the Home Office.
The move comes as backbench Labour MPs become increasingly concerned by their party's ability to cut the asylum backlog.
Keir Starmer pledged to 'end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds' during last year's general election.
A government source confirmed the removal of asylum seekers from nine hotels.
Thirteen other hotels have already been closed since the beginning of the year, the source said.
'We are getting to grips with the absolute chaos the Tories left in the asylum system. We are implementing a sustainable exit plan in line with our commitment to end the use of eye-wateringly expensive asylum hotels,' the source said.
According to reports, members of the royal family are often driven past the village green of Datchet – population 4,807 – on their way to the castle.
In one report this week, Muslim asylum seekers were accused of making racist comments towards a Hindu shopworker who was only identified by his first name.
'They abuse me because I'm from India and I'm Hindu,' the shopworker reportedly told the Times.
A Daily Mail report in November quoted Datchet residents saying they planned to put their homes on the market because the village had been ruined by asylum seekers. One was quoted saying: 'I put my house on the market, I've had enough.
'This has been such a nice village. It's been safe and it's been left to go to rack and ruin. It's just becoming a hellhole.'
The same article quoted Mo Tariq, who lives in the village and owns a cafe, defending the hotel and its residents.
'If you speak to these men, they're all very polite. They all come from difficult situations. They are not criminals, they are not nasty people.
'They're not allowed to work so they just hang about and because of that the local villagers think it is an eyesore,' the Mail reported.
Another hotel that will be cleared by the Home Office is the 319-capacity Coventry Hill hotel, which has been targeted by far-right protesters on several occasions. James White was convicted of assaulting a security guard in August 2020 after attending a Britain First demonstration outside the hotel.
Britain First stormed another hotel earmarked for closure. Thugs barged their way into the 425-capacity Britannia Daresbury Park hotel near Warrington, Cheshire, in 2020 and filmed people from Sudan and Iraq cowering in cramped rooms.
The other hotels which will no longer house migrants are the Best Western Cambridge Bar Hill hotel, which has been used to house up to 272 asylum seekers; the Icon hotel in Luton, Bedfordshire; the 78-capacity Dorchester hotel in Hull; the 80-capacity Embassy hotel in Gateshead; the EasyHotel near Hillingdon, west London; and an unnamed hotel near Kings Cross, central London.
Figures obtained by the BBC showed there were 213 hotels in use during June's general election campaign. While that number initially fell, it increased to 218 in December.
The Home Office source said the closures can take place because the government is processing more asylum claims, increasing returns and rationalising the asylum estate.
'We are processing applications, which had almost ground to a halt under the Tories, removing over 20,000 of those with no right to be here,' said the source.
'It also means rationalising the chaotic system we inherited, utilising much cheaper accommodation options than hotels and rationalising hotels where we have additional buffer, especially in family accommodation.'
Nearly 7,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on small boats so far this year, according to latest figures.
In 2024 as a whole, 36,816 were detected making the dangerous crossing in small boats.