20 Thursday February 3 2022 | the times
News
The Home Office is spending £1.
million a day to house asylum seekers
and Priti Patel has admitted that the
government is “struggling” to find
permanent homes.
Tricia Hayes, the deputy permanent
secretary at the Home Office, told MPs
yesterday that 25,000 refugees were
living in hotels. Most of them were
migrants who had crossed the Channel
in small boats.
The figure is three times higher than
the number in hotels three years ago. A
further 12,000 Afghan refugees are in
hotels — leading to a total of 37,
people in “bridging accommodation”,
waiting for the result of an asylum
claim or a local authority to offer them
a permanent home.
Patel told the home affairs commit-
tee yesterday that housing asylum
seekers in hotels was an “inadequate
policy”. Her Nationality and Borders
Bill aims to end the practice of housing
asylum seekers in hotels by using new
reception centres instead.
MPs were surprised when Hayes said
that the policy was costing taxpayers
£1.2 million each day — equivalent to
£438 million a year.
The department has failed to per-
suade enough local authorities to
house thousands of Afghan nationals
who were airlifted out of their country
in August last year. Only 4,000 Afghans
have been found homes, leaving 12,
in hotels more than five months later.
Patel told MPs: “We are absolutely
struggling with local authorities find-
ing housing accommodation. Also we
want to make sure that we can move
people into work. We want them to
rebuild their lives here. We have a min-
ister for resettlement that leads on this
but we are desperately still trying to pull
together different component parts.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of
the Refugee Council, said that living in
a hotel was “unsuitable” for people who
had fled war and persecution.
“Every day we see men, women and
children struggling to get the clothes,
food and healthcare they need when
marooned in hotels for many months,
Hotel rooms for
asylum seekers
costing taxpayer
£1.2m per day
Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor causing them great distress,” he said.
“It’s a failed strategy that comes at an
astronomical cost to the taxpayer. We
want to work with government to
support people into suitable housing so
they can start to rebuild their lives.”
Patel admitted that only a “tiny”
number of migrants who crossed the
Channel last year had been removed.
She said that she did not have the
latest figure on how many of the record
28,381 migrants who came in small
boats had been returned. Home Office
figures show that up to September last
year ten had been removed.
Patel caused fresh confusion among
MPs over her “pushback” policy that
would intercept migrant boats in the
Channel and send them back to France.
The military is taking over opera-
tional control from Border Force later
this month. James Heappey, the armed
forces minister, told MPs last month
that the navy would not be involved in
any “pushback” tactics.
Patel appeared to contradict him
when she insisted that the Home Office
and Ministry of Defence were yet to
finalise plans for the operations.
Asked whether Heappey was wrong
to rule out navy involvement in the
policy, Patel said: “The minister gave a
view. They’re not facts, they can’t be
facts... that work is under way.
“While I appreciate he was respond-
ing to questions in parliament, this is
work in progress. It’s wrong to say any-
thing specific in regards to work opera-
tionally. They’re still being planned.
That work is not completed yet.”
Patel also rejected concerns that the
ministry’s involvement could encour-
age more people to cross the Channel.
“I have confidence in the expertise of
our teams that are working through
operational details,” she said.
The controversial policy arose in the
High Court yesterday when Border
Force officers’ representatives and a
charity were refused an injunction to
block the Home Office from acting on
the “push back” measures.
The Public and Commercial Services
Union and Care4Calais are bringing a
legal challenge against the government
over the proposal.
President Macron is “absolutely
wrong” to blame Britain’s reliance on
“illegal” immigrant labour for driving
the record numbers of migrants cross-
ing the Channel, Priti Patel has said.
The home secretary hit back at the
French president after he vowed to step
up pressure to establish a legal route to
Britain for asylum seekers.
The comments reignited a long-run-
ning dispute between the two govern-
ments about who is to blame for the mi-
grant crisis in the Channel. A record
28,381 crossed last year in small boats.
France has refused Britain’s request
to take back those who make the
perilous journey, insisting that the UK
start processing applications from
asylum seekers while they are still in
UK not to blame for migrants, Patel tells Macron
northern France to prevent them from
risking the crossing.
Speaking to a regional newspaper in
northern France, Macron repeated his
claim that Britain’s economy relied on
low-paid illegal immigrant labour.
He told La Voix du Nord: “The British
continue to have a system from the
1980s which manages economic immi-
gration through hypocrisy... There is
no legal immigration route.”
He added: “The British must
articulate their needs in terms of the
economy and reopen a path to legal
asylum requests. We are going to step
up the pressure.”
Speaking to the Commons home
affairs committee yesterday, Patel hit
back, saying: “Macron’s comments are
wrong. They’re absolutely wrong. So,
let me be very, very clear about that.She said that the French government
was fully aware of “the co-operation
that we have to have with France to
combat the dangerous and unneces-
sary crossings”.
Patel praised the work that what was
being done by “our ambassador in Paris
and her team” and said Britain recog-
nised the importance of “working with
like-minded partners across Europe”.
Macron’s comments echoed those he
made to the European parliament in
Strasbourg to mark France taking over
the six-month rotating presidency of
the European Union last month, when
he said there needed to be “legal, stable”
routes for migration to the UK.
Bella Sankey, director of the charity
Detention Action, said: “President
Macron is right to step up the pressure
on the UK government and to point outthat unsafe small boat crossings are a
result of the UK’s refusal to open up safe
routes for those fleeing persecution.
“A safe passage to allow asylum seek-
ers in France to reach the UK is
urgently needed and we welcome the
French government’s recognition that
the status quo is not sustainable.”
More than 1,300 people crossed the
English Channel to the UK on board
small boats last month, according
to figures compiled by PA news agency.
That was more than six times the num-
ber who succeeded in making the dan-
gerous journey in January last year.
The home secretary admitted that
only a “tiny” number of migrants who
crossed the Channel last year have
been removed from the UK.
Macron takes aim at migrants to outflank
his right-wing rivals, page 33Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
Readers give
more than
£2.5m to our
charity trio
Kaya BurgessA rush of generosity from readers in the
last hours before the deadline for The
Times and Sunday Times Christmas
Appeal passed pushed the final total
over the £2.5 million mark.
The newspapers joined forces in
2020 to run a joint Christmas charity
appeal for the first time. Over the past
two festive periods more than £5.8 mil-
lion has been raised for six charities.
This year the total reached £2,517,
for three charities. An extra £58,
was added on the final day alone.
Pledges through our donation
website and phone lines totalled
£1,098,980, with £503,025 pledged to
the Refugee Councils of Britain,
£341,690 to the Outward Bound Trust
and £254,266 to the Wildfowl & Wet-
lands Trust (WWT).
Each charity had fund-matching
arrangements.
Donations to the Refugee Councils
were doubled up to £275,000 by
anonymous donors, gifts to Outward
Bound were doubled up to £480,
thanks to £300,000 from Barratt
Developments and the Barratt Foun-
dation and £180,000 from an
anonymous donor.
Pledges to the WWT were doubled
up to £115,000 through £25,000 from
Moto in the Community and £90,
from an anonymous philanthropist.
With these arrangements, plus a
£100,000 gift from a businessman, the
sums pledged came to £1,217,595 for
Outward Bound, £887,866 for the
Refugee Councils and £411,921 for the
WWT, a total of £2.517 million.
The charities said that the generosity
of The Times and Sunday Times readers
was “absolutely incredible”.
They added that they were “over-
joyed” by the impact the funds would
have on their work.
The Refugee Councils of Britain, in-
cluding the main Refugee Council and
its Scottish and Welsh counterparts,
each year assist more than 20,000 re-
fugees to settle in Britain, helping them
to find clothes, food and accommoda-
tion, receive essential trauma therapy
and advice on gaining asylum, learn
English and find employment.
Outward Bound provides subsidised
trips for 17,000 children each year,
taking school groups — including
many from areas of high deprivation —
on mountain adventures, sailing across
lakes and hiking into Britain’s wild
places to build their confidence and
resilience.
The generosity of readers will enable
thousands more children to attend the
charity’s courses.
The funds for the Wildfowl & Wet-
lands Trust, whose patron is the Prince
of Wales, will help to restore and pro-
tect 100,000 acres of wetland across
nine centres.
The lush landscapes across Britain
soak up floodwater, absorb carbon
dioxide, trap pollutants and provide
vital habitats for rare birds, as well as
providing tranquil spaces for people to
relax, away from the hurly-burly of
modern life.
The charity, which also helps com-
munities around the world to look after
their wetlands, insists that a walk in the
wild can improve mental health.
A leading article in The Times this
week thanked readers for “their
magnificent support” and for showing
“generosity, compassion and public
spirit” in donating so much to three
such worthwhile causes.Seeing the light Ripon Cathedral lit 7,000 candles yesterday for Candlemas, the
festival that marks the ritual purification of Mary 40 days after the birth of JesusTIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOP