Update on the Metropole Hotel

This week, I had a crucial meeting with the Asylum Minister, Dame Angela Eagle MP DBE, to address the pressing concerns that Blackpool Council and I have regarding the accommodation of asylum-seeking families at the Metropole Hotel.

The previous Conservative government initially assured us that the hotel would be used to house asylum seekers for only three months – an assurance that has long since evaporated. Now we’re passing the third year that people have been held in unsuitable hotel accommodation.

With the new Labour government actively processing over 100,000 asylum seekers to clear the backlog and eliminate the use of hotels for temporary housing, it is imperative that we take decisive action.

The Metropole Hotel and its location are wholly inadequate for the purpose of housing asylum seekers, and the Minister is now urgently reviewing the contract established by the previous government to ensure that we can terminate its use as quickly as possible.