The Blackpool South MP has made an urgent call to end the use of the town’s Metropole Hotel to house asylum seekers.
Chris Webb MP, who has been a long-standing opponent of the hotel’s controversial role, raised the issue again after an announcement that a number of other North West properties will cease housing migrants.
The locally-listed seafront hotel, owned by Britannia Hotels and the only one in Blackpool located on the sea side of the prom, has been used to house migrants September 2021.
Around 140–220 people were initially moved into the hotel by the Home Office due to “unprecedented demand” for accommodation, despite objections from local officials
It has been the subject of several protests by anti-migrant campaigners and was of the main areas where they congregated during the riots in August 2024, following the tragic murder of three children in Southport by Axel Rudakubana.
Police had to from a human barrier keep them away from the property.
Unlike the protesters, Mr Webb was not opposed to the migrants themselves but says the hotel is not an appropriate place to house them.
Mr Webb, who has written a letter to Alex Norris, Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum, said of the issue: “The first wave of closures of asylum hotels is coming next week. I’ve once again written to the Home Office to tell them why Blackpool’s must be prioritised.
“Thousands of constituents have signed my petition calling for this closure. The Metropole is wholly inappropriate accommodation for asylum seekers and this historic venue must be returned to its original purpose. “
In the letter, he told Mr Norris: “I am writing again to express my urgency concerns regarding the accommodation of asylum seekers at the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool.
“As a historic and locally-listed venue, the Metropole long served as a vital part of the local tourism industry, providing accommodation for visitors and supporting the accommodation for our town.
“The use of the Metropole as an asylum hotel was originally presented as a short term measure under the previous Conservative government but is now entering is fourth year,
“Blackpool is the most deprived local authority in England, with the Metropole located on he edge of he second most deprived neighbourhood in the country, right on Blackpool’s historic seafront.
“Decisions taken nationally about asylum accommodation have local consequences, and in Blackpool those consequence are now severe and unsustainable.
“Thousands of Blackpool residents have signed my petition calling for the Metropole to be returned to its original purpose. The Metropole Hotel should be prioritised for closure as soon as possible.”
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