Basingstoke MP, Maria Miller, is supporting the Borough Council Leader, Cllr Simon Bound, in efforts to prevent more local hotels volunteering to provide further asylum accommodation in Basingstoke and Deane Borough.
Maria said: “Our Councils, NHS, Public Health, Basingstoke Voluntary Action, and many local volunteer groups have done incredible work over the past year supporting Ukrainian and Afghan refugees, as well as asylum seekers, who have all sought refuge in our community.
“However, hotel groups are continuing to agree to sell more and more rooms to be used to house asylum seekers without a thought for the implications for our community. Our local NHS does not have the capacity to take on the healthcare of more asylum seekers who could well be in poor health, having been sleeping rough, risking their lives, often at the hands of criminal gangs, to reach our shores.
“The hotel chains most stop offering up their hotel rooms to be used as semi-permanent accommodation for people who require access to significant health and social services, when they were designed to provide rooms for business and leisure travellers.
“I recognise the current levels of illegal immigration is exceptionally difficult for the Home Office and that they are working hard to establish an effective way forward with the French Government, who are often the last safe country for those who reach our shores. But Basingstoke is already more than playing its part in helping to address this issue, other towns must be used to provide accommodation to spread the pressure, especially on NHS services.”