MP 'glad' after asylum seeker hotel set to reopen

An MP said he was "glad" a hotel in his constituency had stopped housing asylum seekers and was scheduled to reopen for bookings.

Chris Curtis, the Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, had previously been told by the Home Office that there was an "urgent need" to establish a site in Newport Pagnell.

"I have maintained throughout that this was not an appropriate location, and am grateful it will be closing after a lot of back and forth," he said.

The Home Office told the BBC the government was committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers.

In November the Labour politician was told the hotel would be used for about three months.

Curtis added: "I'm glad we managed to close it. We only managed to do it because the government has acted to speed up the processing of asylum claims, helping to reduce he backlog."

He thanked the local community, including charities and public services, for support and understanding.

Home Office minister, Dame Angela Eagle, said: "We are absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels, and since coming into government took immediate action to restart asylum processing to begin closing hotels, have surged the number of returns, removing more than 19,000 people with no right to be in the UK, and established the border security command to dismantle the gangs driving this trade.

"We continue to work closely with local authorities as we look to drive down the use of hotels further, with nine set to close by the end of March."

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