Home Office to stop using hotel for asylum seekers

A hotel in the constituency of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will stop housing asylum seekers later this year, the government has confirmed.

The Home Office wrote to North Yorkshire Council to say it was to terminate the asylum accommodation contract with Allerton Court Hotel in Northallerton.

Ministers have pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers entirely by 2029.

Sunak, the MP for Richmond and Northallerton, said he was "encouraged" to hear the latest update, while Carl Les, North Yorkshire Council's leader, said he wanted to hear more information.

Les said: "We'd like to know a little bit more about the plans for moving asylum seekers out of hotels into other parts of the estate and whether part of that estate is in North Yorkshire.

"But we're waiting for the Home Office to contact us about this."

Allerton Court Hotel has housed family groups of asylum seekers for several years, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Last year, Home Office plans to instead use the hotel for single male asylum seekers prompted concerns from the council and Sunak.

The government later announced it would not be pursuing the plan.

Sunak said: "Following the Home Office's decision not to proceed with its plan to replace the families housed there with single males, which I, along with North Yorkshire Council, strongly opposed, this is a welcome development.

"I will remain in contact with ministers to ensure the Home Office adheres to the timetable for the relocation of the remaining asylum seekers."

The Home Office said it was "furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels".

A spokesperson added: "Work is well under way to close every asylum hotel, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.

"The home secretary has set out the most sweeping asylum reforms in a generation to restore order to the system, including cutting incentives for illegal migration and revoking the duty to provide asylum seeker support such as housing."

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