MPs have heard that a ‘scandal of profiteering’ means contractors and hotel firms are raking in millions while families are forced to live in mouldy and vermin-filled rooms as their asylum claims are processed
A “scandal of profiteering” means contractors and hotel firms are making millions while asylum seeker kids are forced to live with cockroaches and vermin crawling around, MPs have been told.
Politicians lashed out at myths about migrants living in luxury while their claims are processed – accusing Reform of “weaponising” the issue for their own ends. Ministers are under pressure to speed up asylum hotel closures after their use swelled under the Tories.
Nearly half a million people signed a petition demanding support – including shelter, medicine and food – is withdrawn from asylum seekers. This was branded “immoral” during a heated debate about the call.
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Labour MP Luke Charters said: “Let me talk about the scandal of profiteering, because the public is paying the price while private hotel companies and contractors profit.
“Let me be blunt about this. £180 million pounds profit for one whole hotel company while toilet roll was rationed, while asylum seekers were fed inedible expired food, where families and children live with cockroaches, rodents, damp and mould.
“That is absolutely disgusting and it is a disgrace.” He continued: “The National Audit Office found that since 2019, three main accommodation providers have made nearly £400million from asylum contracts with the profiting from terrible conditions.
“That’s not who we are. It’s not what Britain should ever stand for. And that’s why I’m proud that this government is committing to making this stop.”
Labour’s Bell Ribeiro-Addy told a Westminster Hall debate: “I tested various different types of accommodation across the country and in London housing asylum seekers. There’s nothing luxurious about it.
“Cramped rooms, with one family to a single room, typically not well kept, and the standard below what anyone would deem acceptable. And many have had infestations of bedbugs, cockroaches and other vermin.”
And former Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: “Rooms in hotels are often shared, cramped, have nowhere to cook, no privacy and often leave vulnerable people isolated and depressed. Asylum seekers have no recourse to public funds, meaning they are not eligible for mainstream benefits and in most cases are banned from working.
“They are trapped by a malfunctioning Home Office, a bloated institution that should be broken up.”
Figures last week showed over 32,000 asylum seekers were living in hotels at the end of June – down from over 56,000 under the Tories in 2023. The Government has vowed to end their use by the end of this Parliament in 2029.
The Home Office has a legal duty to provide basic support to destitute asylum seekers while their claims are processed. They are legally banned from working, and so cannot earn money. They receive a very small allowance. If their meals are provided they receive £9.95 a week per person, and if they are in self-catered accommodation their allowance is £49.18.
Labour MP Kevin Bonavia said: “This is a European worldwide problem. And if we treat it as a British problem, we will never, ever get that solution. And then we have the other members in this room (Reform) who seek to weaponise this for their own ends. It suits them to scaremonger about what is happening.”
Hitting back at calls for all support for asylum seekers to be withdrawn, Labour MP Tony Vaughan clapped back at myths about support being offered. He said: “First, people claiming asylum cannot access the UK’s mainstream benefit system. They receive a national accommodation for 90 days full board, plus about £10 weekly.
“And after that they move to longer term housing and get around £49.18 pounds a week for food, clothing and toiletries, which is much less than Universal Credit rates.”
He rubbished claims that the UK’s support system for asylum seekers is a pull factor. Mr Vaughan said the rate of £49.18 “barely beats” the rate paid in France, and people are worse off once the cost of a small boat crossing is factored in.
He said: “Imagine that tomorrow we cut all asylum seeker financial support and close all asylum hotels. What would happen next? Well, without alternatives, this would increase rough sleeping by over 500%, with over 30,000 more destitute people on our streets.
“And this approach would clearly be immoral. And I trust that honorable members would agree. It would also pile massive pressure on social services, local authorities, NHS emergency services and the police.”
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