Always keen to jump on any populist passing bandwagon, Jason Perry, Croydon’s failed Mayor, last night made it known that he has got the geniuses in the council’s legal department working overtime to see if he can shut down any hotels in Croydon which are providing accommodation to asylum-seekers.
Failure: Tory Mayor Jason Perry wants to scapegoat refugees
Perry’s announcement was not made through formal council channels, but in a statement from the council’s Twitter account.
It came two days after the High Court granted Tory-run Epping Forest District Council’s temporary injunction against the Home Office for using the Bell Hotel as temporary accommodation for asylum-seekers. The injunction was granted because of a perceived breach of planning regulations.
Perry and other Conservative council leaders are being encouraged to try similar stunts – all using public funds, paid for by tax-payers.
Led by Croydon South MP Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, the Tories’ dog-whistle politics are stirring up the possibility of mass demonstrations outside asylum hotels across the country over the Bank Holiday weekend.
But with local authorities seeking to evict asylum-seekers from their areas, the Labour government is scrambling to draw up a contingency plan as it braces for more legal challenges against the refugee hotels, even including some from Labour-run councils.
In Croydon, the council has (reasonably and properly in this instance) refused to respond to Freedom of Information requests seeking the name and location of any asylum hotels. It is believed that there may be at least two hotels in the borough that are used for the purpose, and that they have been housing refugees for at least four years.
According to the Home Office’s quarterly immigration figures, released yesterday, Croydon has more asylum-seekers housed than neighbouring boroughs.
There are 577 asylum-seekers housed in Croydon (as at June 30). That’s down by 174, from 751 at the end of March this year.
Figures for Bromley show 48 refugees being provided with temporary accommodation. In Sutton, there are none. Lambeth has 366 (down from 415 in March). In Southwark, it is 431 (down from 507).
The figures: there are fewer refugees housed in hotels now than there were under the Tories
There were 10,081 asylum seekers in the capital’s hotels in June, compared to 12,024 in March.
Data is not provided on the number of hotels in use, but it is thought there were more than 400 asylum hotels opened by the Conservative government in summer 2023, which Labour says it has reduced to fewer than 210 across the country.
Asylum-seekers are prevented from working while their applications are processed by the immigration authorities. The Home Office has made it a priority since last year to reduce the huge backlog of applications which had been allowed to build up over several years, and so reduce the need to provide temporary accommodation.
Last night, Croydon Mayor Perry did his own bit of attention-seeking, issued a statement saying: “Like many councils we are reviewing the High Court’s decision to grant a temporary injunction to Epping Forest District Council, and what this means for the future of asylum seeker accommodation.
“My priority will be to work closely with our partners and our communities, as we consider what this means for our borough.”
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