Asylum seeker hotel plan for town in Milton Keynes takes startling twist

A startling twist has developed today in the saga of the asylum seeker hotel in Newport Pagnell.

Yesterday (Tuesday) local Labour councillors revealed a second hotel in the town has been chosen by the Home Office to house 250 asylum seekers, after plans fell through for the first, Harben House.

The new hotel was named in official correspondence from the Home Office to MK City Council as the Welcome Break-owned Ramada at Newport Pagnell M1 service station.

The Citizen has seen the official email, which was sent to MKCC’s CEO Michael Bracey, and can confirm this is the case.

But today Welcome Break has denied any knowledge of its hotel being used for this purpose. It appears the company has not been informed by the Home Office.

We informed them of the official email to the council, which clearly states the Ramada has “been identified” as a site to accommodate asylum seekers and seeks to arrange a meeting with officers to finalise the plans and arrange a start date.

A surprised Welcome Break spokesman said: “We want to emphasise that there has been no direct communication with the Home Office concerning asylum seekers at our hotel. Additionally, we have not engaged in any business agreements with the Home Office or any government entity to house asylum seekers on our premises.

“Our hotel continues to operate normally, providing our valued guests with exceptional service that we strive to deliver.”

The news will leave the people of Newport Pagnell more puzzled than ever. And it will enrage Labour councillors, who slammed the Conservative government’s asylum hotel system as chaotic and badly planned following the Harben House shambles.

The Home Office picked Harben House in August to house more than 200 asylum seekers, some of them single males. But after the first migrants moved in, it was revealed the owner had previous convictions and served a prison sentence for offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act, including perverting the course of justice and forging documents.

Following objections from Labour and Lib Dem councillors, the multi million pound contract was hastily cancelled by the Home Office.

Council leader Pete Marland said at the time: “The events around how the Conservative government have handled the asylum hotel shows that they are in chaos and incapable of governing properly. They have failed to stop the boats, the asylum application backlog is at a record high... This total and utter mess must end.”

Yesterday he had branded the plan to house asylum seekers at the Ramada, next to a busy motorway junction, as “incredibly dangerous”.

He said: "It raises all sorts of safety issues regarding people smugglers, exploitation and risk of absconding.

“There is also a massive impact on our council budget, with 13 new refugee families seeking housing support only last week when there’s already a housing crisis in the city.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are determined... to ensure that anyone arriving in the UK illegally is detained and swiftly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country.

“We’re also working hard to reduce the unacceptable use of hotels by moving asylum seekers into alternative, cheaper accommodation, doubling them up in hotel rooms, and clearing the legacy backlog.”