Mansfield and Ashfield MPs' fury after hotel is used to house migrants instead of homeless people

Ben Bradley (Con), Mansfield MP, spoke on the subject in the House of Commons and said the hotel was already being used to alleviate homelessness in the area but had now been given over to housing migrants – something he had not been informed of until afterwards – and said the situation was ‘untenable’.

Meanwhile, Ashfield MP Lee Anderson was more forthright, calling the owners of the Mansfield hotel in question ‘greedy’.

Mr Anderson also took to his Facebook page to angrily react to the Refugee Council’s request for Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle to stop Conservative MPs naming hotels which will house people seeking asylum because of concerns it could lead to attacks by extremists.

Mr Anderson posted: “No silence here.

"As reported in The Guardian, far left groups and the Refugee Council are trying to stop MPs from naming and shaming hotels who are receiving huge amounts of taxpayer cash to take in ‘asylum seekers’.

“Like many of you, I am sick and tired of seeing our hospitality abused and people who are simply economic migrants cheating our system via small boats and dodgy human rights legislation. I will not be silenced and will name and shame these greedy hotel owners.”

His comments attracted plenty of support from Facebook followers but also criticism from Chad readers. One, Teri Flello, contacted your Chad to say: “Why oh why is he allowed to recklessly name the locations? "How does he get away with this abhorrent behaviour?”

Meanwhile in the Commons, Mr Bradley said that on Monday, November 14, as a result of the Home Office decision to use this hotel to now house migrants, several people had had to present themselves as homeless to the local authority.

Mr Bradley said that the situation ‘is untenable, and that the Government must surely know that this is wrong’. He asked the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, to investigate this as a matter of urgency.

In his reply, Mr Jenrick stated that officials had now got in contact with the local authority, but agreed with Mr Bradley that the situation could not continue.

He explained the Government’s plan moving forward, to make sure that the processing centre at Manston is operating legally and that any further accommodation that the Government procures in aid of the migrant crisis does not have this level of impact on local authorities. He also stated he was happy to work with Mr Bradley to achieve this aim.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Bradley said: “It’s clearly unacceptable that homeless people who have presented themselves to the local council and followed a process in good faith to then be placed at this hotel, have been removed so the Home Office can house migrants who have entered the country illegally.”

“This situation is not just untenable but also morally wrong. A robust response from the Government is needed on this crisis to fix our broken asylum system and ensure it works for UK tax payers.”

“I’m pleased the minister is looking into this and that the local authority has had contact with the Government since the situation began. I’m looking forward to seeing further Government action in the coming weeks.”