00:01Demonstrations outside some hotels being used for asylum accommodation have highlighted
00:06strong views on all sides. Some residents raise concerns about pressure on services
00:12and safety, while others argue people seeking asylum should be treated fairly while their
00:17cases are assessed. The question is where that accommodation should be and who should
00:24provide it.
00:25There is no doubt that we've seen a sort of a vast rise in asylum seekers or those people
00:32who come through sort of non-legal routes, if I may put it like that. We've seen a sort
00:37of rise of general immigration, but many people come here on perfectly legitimate sort of visas
00:42as it were, to work, study, whatever else. But of course, what we're talking about, the
00:46sort of people who, let's face it, 10 years ago or so were coming in the back of lorries.
00:51By and large, that route seems to have sort of been solved, although it's not to say it
00:57may not be happening. Who knows? But obviously, we don't hear of that, certainly in the sort
01:02of same numbers. What we're seeing is a sort of a huge number of people wanting to come
01:07over in a way which, of course, is hugely sort of risky to their lives on small dinghies,
01:13in effect, across the English Channel, which may not be the longest piece of water in the
01:18world. But it's hugely dangerous. The Home Office has relied on hotels as part
01:24of asylum support. But official reports show the scale and cost have become a major political
01:30issue. The National Audit Office has said the government aims to end hotel use by the
01:35end of this parliament, and that in March 2025, around three in 10 supported asylum seekers were
01:42housed in hotels. Ministers have also signalled a shift towards reducing incentives for small boat
01:49journeys and tightening support rules. At the same time, councils in some areas have considered bidding
01:55for funding to buy or convert properties as alternative accommodation, which supporters say
02:02could reduce hotel dependence, while critics worry about fairness and local housing pressure.
02:08So the hotels were seen, if you like, as a sort of an easy solution. And I've used that sort
02:15of
02:15those those words in a kind of cynical way that put them into hotels till we can find somewhere
02:21better to put them. Now, of course, there is a whole argument. And I would accept that sort of
02:25some may say, why should we house them? But of course, we belong to the sort of the European
02:30culture of human rights or the convention, which we sort of treat these people with respect until we
02:35sort of we hear their sort of their claim for asylum, because that's what what they're coming
02:40to do, to have sort of asylum in this country, on the basis that if they were sent back to
02:44their
02:44country, they would sort of suffer sort of an abuse of their rights and possibly even sort of death.
02:48And that may be the case. And indeed, let's face it, from sort of hotel owners, it's a good deal
02:54for
02:54them, because of course, they get their sort of rooms, you know, guaranteed occupancy. And that's all that you
02:58want as a sort of a hotelier. If you've got 100 rooms, you can have 100 rooms occupied every night
03:04and a guaranteed payment, then that's all that you seek to achieve. But of course, what you then
03:10do, particularly in sort of smaller towns, if you've only got one hotel, if you take that out,
03:16then of course, you sort of don't have anyone for sort of visitors to come. So your tourism may
03:20sort of suffer. But there's a whole other sort of emotions that sort of get stirred up amongst people
03:26who resent this. And of course, the sort of the right wing press are sort of hot on this. And
03:33of course,
03:33it stirred up a lot of the emotion that we've sort of seen in recent years,
03:36in terms of sort of people who don't want it on their sort of doorstep. So it's a difficult one.
03:41But of course, where are you going to put these people in the meantime?
03:44For many people, this comes down to two things at once, controlling borders and managing public money,
03:50while treating individuals lawfully during an asylum process. Under UK and international rules,
03:57people with pending asylum claims generally cannot be simply removed until a decision is made.
04:04With pressure on housing and services already intense,
04:07the argument over where people should stay looks set to continue.
04:12It's about a challenging time.
04:13You are not doing that much without you.
04:14If you have a feeling of happening, you are not doing that.
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