Buckinghamshire hotel housing asylum seekers to close

Friday, 27 October 2023 07:00

By Charlie Smith - Local Democracy Reporter

A Buckinghamshire hotel housing asylum seekers will close within four weeks, MPs have confirmed.

The Best Western in Buckingham off the A421 will shut by November 23, UK immigration minister, Robert Jenrick confirmed this week.

He said the closure was one of 50 hotels across the country that will shut their doors to asylum seekers in the coming months.

The update came after he was questioned by the MP for Buckingham Greg Smith, who asked him for a fixed date on the hotel’s future.

Mr Smith said: “I was grateful to receive confirmation from his officials that the Best Western in Buckingham would close on the 23^rd of November.

“But can I ask him, given I’d previously been told, on the 9^th of September, that these new dates are final and cannot be delayed or postponed or changed, that that hotel absolutely close on the 23^rdof November.”

Mr Jenrick replied: “I hope the letter he has received is written in blood. That hotel will close on the date that is on the letter.”

In February, Mr Smith told MPs: “The loss of the hotel as a valuable local business is noticeable in the town, as is the diversion of precious primary care resources, with an on-site clinic required at least once a week.”

Mr Jenrick said this week that the £8m a day costs of hotel contracts across the UK was “unacceptable” and “unsustainable”.