Stop using seafront hotel for asylum seekers - MP

An MP has again urged his local council to stop housing asylum seekers at a large seafront hotel.

Blackpool South MP Chris Webb said "both the location and the facilities" of the Metropole Hotel were "wholly inadequate for the purpose of housing asylum seekers".

The Labour MP said he had heard "heart-breaking accounts of people in dangerous and potentially life-threatening conditions and I'm extremely concerned that the situation is a tragedy waiting to happen".

The BBC has asked for responses from Labour-run Blackpool Council, the Home Office and its contractor Serco, and the Metropole's owner Britannia Hotels.

Under the previous Conservative government, the Metropole was commissioned in 2021 to house asylum seekers for three months.

Webb said hundreds of vulnerable families, including many pregnant women, were still being housed there.

In the autumn, the MP first questioned whether it was appropriate to house so many vulnerable people in such a prominent location.

Blackpool witnessed violent disorder last summer after three girls were murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in nearby Southport.

In the days that followed the attack, false claims spread online that their killer was an asylum seeker.

Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff in 2006 and moved to Banks, near Southport, in 2013.

Webb claimed the Home Office's contracted accommodation provider for asylum seekers, Serco, was failing to take adequate security measures or provide adequate care for at least 500 vulnerable people with multiple complex needs.

He said: "I am hearing directly from asylum seekers in the hotel about the alleged mistreatment they are suffering, including a lack of access to food, poor hygiene standards, a lack of fire procedure, alleged verbal abuse, and the psychological torment of being housed in such an unstable and unsuitable environment."

The Labour MP stressed: "It's not just about offering shelter – it's about providing a safe and supportive environment for those who have fled violence, persecution and war.

"Blackpool has a proud tradition of hospitality, but we must ensure that we are equipped to meet such critical needs."

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