Families of people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom will be accommodated in the Ashley Hotel in Hale, a Tory MP today confirmed.
Graham Brady, MP for Altrincham & Sale West, said: ‘I am pleased to have received confirmation that at least 80% of the asylum seekers to be accommodated in the Ashley Hotel will be families.
‘I am relieved that this much improved outcome has been achieved.’
The Cheshire MP previously spoke out against the proposal to lodge 112 male asylum seekers who arrived from France in the Ashley Hotel in Hale, describing it as ‘obviously inappropriate’.
Hale is a suburb of Trafford in Greater Manchester and is home to many of Britain’s best-paid footballers and their partners.
A father and his children return to the hotel as the first asylum seekers to move into Hale
.The first group of Asylum seekers were seen at the Ashley Hotel in upmarket Hale this morning
Earlier today, The Daily Mail reported how ministers were drawing up plans to block Channel migrants from lodging legal challenges against deportation.
Under current law, all people seeking asylum have the right to remain in Britain to have their cases heard, which Sunak would challenge.
If Britain’s deal to deport migrants to Rwanda were to be ruled legal by senior judges later this year, it could allow asylum seekers to keep the right to lodge appeals over their status from Rwanda once they had already left the United Kingdom.
In 2017, the Supreme Court held that out-of-country appeals may be unlawful when appellants could not effectively appeal from outside the UK due to difficulties securing legal representation or giving evidence.
‘Deport first, appeal later’ policies were found by the Supreme Court to be in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which protects a person’s right to respect for their private and family life.
1996 legislation sets out how asylum applicants from ‘safe third countries’ can only appeal from abroad against the Home Office’s decision to refuse their case.
A wide expansion of the principle is likely to be opposed by the House of Lords, judges and from human rights lawyers, as it would cover all people who arrive by ‘small boat’, even if their home nation is not considered safe.
People move in to the hotel in Hale where they will stay temporarily as asylum seekers
Families were seen going into the hotel today after an MP spoke out on moving in single men
MP Brady previously told Altrincham Today that he heard about plans to house asylum seekers in the Ashley Hotel in November and requested a meeting with Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
He said: ‘Putting over 100 young unemployed men in the centre of a busy residential village such as Hale would clearly be inappropriate and the proposals have caused considerable disquiet.’
‘It’s clear to me that there must be better facilities for housing such a group which I am told would be comprised mostly of illegal immigrants who have crossed the channel on small boats typically from safe countries, firstly France and then previously mainly Albania.’
A resident in Hale said that people locally were furious about the since-overturned decision to house male refugees.
‘They are concerned that it’s an entirely male group of men who worry about how they’ll spend their time here when they’ll have so little money to spend.’
Living on a wage of £9 spending money per week, the asylum seekers will soon be neighbours with some of Britain’s wealthiest stars.
Manchester United shells out £4,459,450 per week to its squad of 75, averaging out at £60,000 per week per person.
A Home Office spokesperson said last month: ‘The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.
‘The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6million a day.’
‘The use of hotels is a temporary solution, and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.’
The Home Office said this month that the cost of housing asylum seekers and refugees was £4.7mn a day, correcting a previous figure given of £1.2mn.
A Hale resident told the MailOnline: ‘As residents we need to be careful not to appear hostile when these people are coming here in dire circumstances.
‘The fact that it’s an entirely male group is a little concerning but we need to do our best to show some compassion.’
The Ashley Hotel is owned by Hale-headquartered Britannia Hotels, which was declared by Which? in November to be the worst hotel chain in the UK for the 10th consecutive year.
It has previously sparked controversy for housing asylum seekers in some of its 60-plus hotels across the country, including those in Wigan and Nottingham in recent years.
..The first group of Asylum seekers were spotted at the Ashley Hotel in upmarket Hale today
80% of the residents in temporary housing in swanky Hale will reportedly be families, MP said
The number of people crossing the English Channel in boats has increased in recent years.
Last year, a record 45,728 migrants reportedly crossed the channel, up from 28,381 in 2021.
The government does not include refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine in their statistics, which have been collected since 2018.
According to Home Office data on the most common nationalities making UK asylum applications, nine of the top ten come from countries involved in a minor conflict or a war in the last year.
These are listed, in order, as Albania, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
The government has developed some schemes for specific groups of people, such as Afghan refugees and Hong Kong citizens.
Albanian migrants are now the most common group crossing the Channel, which experts believe is due to Albanian criminal gangs gaining a foothold in the north of France.
53% of claims by Albanians are accepted, mostly women and children.
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