THE POOLE Quay Hotel (formally The Thistle Hotel) is not being used by the government to house asylum seekers, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has confirmed.
This comes after inaccurate reports have been circling social media that the hotel, which closed in March 2024, and other locations in Poole are being used for this purpose by the government.
BCP cabinet member for housing and regulatory services said there are currently no asylum or other refugee hotel locations in Poole and that people should not always take things they read on social media as gospel.
He said: “There are currently no asylum or other refugee hotel locations in Poole.
“The Home Office are responsible for procuring and managing these sites and we have received an assurance that they are not currently looking at Poole.
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“Not all information on social media is accurate, and I would encourage anyone to think carefully about the credibility of the content they read and watch online.”
The government has been temporarily housing asylum seekers and refugees at hotels around the country – a move the Home Office said has been necessary to meet its legal obligations to those eligible for support at times when there is not enough space across the rest of the asylum accommodation estate.
The Labour Government has said it will hire additional caseworkers to clear the backlog that is forcing them to house asylum seekers in hotels, which they say will save taxpayers billions of pounds, and that they will end asylum hotels altogether.
Fact checkers Full Fact has rated this pledge as “appears off track” as the latest data shows that both the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers and the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels have increased since Labour came into government in July 2024.
The minster for border security and asylum, Dame Angela Eagle MP, said on January 14 that since the general election in July 2024 there has been a net increase of six hotels in use, but nine are scheduled for closure by the end of March.
Why don’t you give me a much needed opportunity to provide a service for our own countryman and those in need such people on the housing list or x soldier that fort for our country and the freedoms we have / a rest home for those people undergoing abuse and so on.
In a nut shell our own across the board that are in need.
This would better money spent by the government to support