Luxury hotel stays for Channel migrants set to be scrapped ahead of election — after a drop in crossings
LUXURY four and five-star hotels for Channel migrants are for the chop at last — as ministers prepare for next year’s election.
The Home Office will today announce a phasing-out of higher-end accommodation after a drop in crossings this year, with many venues freed up in marginal swing seats.
The Government is currently spending more than £8million a day housing the 26,116 migrants who have made the journey this year.
But the number arriving is down on the 37,575 that had crossed by this point a year ago.
It had been feared that as many as 67,000 would come over in 2023, but Border Force now estimates the eventual figure to be around 30,000.
It means a number of contracts with hotel groups will be allowed to expire and not be renewed — with larger ex-military sites soon ready to house asylum seekers.
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Efforts to clear the asylum backlog also mean fewer rooms have been needed than expected.
The Sun has learned that a number of the hotels are in key seats the Tories need to hold at next year’s general election.
MPs have borne the brunt of anger from locals who have seen hotels in cities and towns, including five-star venues, block-booked for migrants for months.
Among the hotels believed to be returning to public use is the four-star Novotel in Ipswich — which is one of the most marginal seats in Britain, having swung from Tory to Labour and back to Tory in the three elections since 2015.
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The current Conservative majority is 5,579.
Local MP Tom Hunt said: “We’ve taken back control of the Novotel for the good of the community and this news will be warmly received by the people of Ipswich.”
The three-star Westone Manor Hotel in Northampton is also set to stop housing migrants. The Conservative majority in the town is 5,507.
And the three-star Bay Majestic in ultra-marginal Eastbourne, East Sussex, will also say farewell to migrants.
The Tories have a wafer- thin 4,331 majority in the town.
Borders minister Robert Jenrick is today set to announce the first 50 that will close to migrants by January, in a statement to MPs.
Men, women and children were brought ashore yesterday in the first migrant crossings in a week. At least four boats were intercepted.
