There were protests and counter protests outside the hotel in the summer
There were protests outside the Hoylake hotel over the summer(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A Merseyside council leader has explained why she challenged her own party’s government over a Home Office decision around an asylum seeker hotel in Hoylake. Labour councillor Paula Basnett said Wirral Council was still waiting for legal advice and the situation was ongoing.
Over July and August, protests and counter protests were seen in Hoylake over the use of the town’s former Holiday Inn Express at Kings Gap to house male asylum seekers. The hotel has previously been used for this purpose and more recently used to house families.
In October, Wirral councillors clashed over the issue after opposing motions were put forward for debate, though both later passed. They accused each other of dog-whistle politics, being dangerous, headline grabbing, and encouraging people to come to the UK “by going down to Hoylake and sharing flapjacks.”
In an update on the issue, Cllr Basnett told the ECHO the council had sought advice from Philip Coppel KC, the senior barrister who supported Epping Forest District Council in its legal challenge to the Home Office over the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping. She said the council was still waiting for the outcome of that advice.
She added the council was looking at whether the hotel was compliant, telling the ECHO: “I believe our planners are working with Kings Gap to look at if they have the correct regulations in place.
“From what I was briefed a while ago is that it is ongoing. I don’t know when there is a timeline it will be resolved.
“I think it is ongoing to understand the current planning regulations around Kings Gap and is it classed as a hotel or is it something different? That is what our planning department is looking at right now.”
The UK Government has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, with current numbers in them being around 32,000. This is down from a peak of 56,000 in 2023.
The Home Office is now considering using military sites in Inverness and East Sussex. A report by the Home Affairs committee, made up of MPs, also said the government has squandered billions of pounds of taxpayer’s money on asylum accommodation.
Over the summer, Cllr Basnett wrote to the Home Office to express concerns over the changes in people being housed in the hotel. She said the Home Office’s decision had been made “without meaningful consultation with the council, local MPs, or the residents who will be directly affected.”
In a letter, Cllr Basnett said people “have expressed clear opposition” to the change and argued the change of use was “a fundamental shift in the use of the premises from a functioning hotel,” adding: “I urge you to listen to our community, respect the commitment we have already shown in supporting asylum seekers, and reconsider this decision as a matter of urgency.”
Speaking on November 6, Cllr Basnett said: “I did say at the time that we had asylum seekers who were settled, children who were settled at Kings Gap. We have got a small seaside town, why did we need to change anything when it was all working very well?
“That is all I was questioning really is why did we need to change anything. I understand the Home Office makes decisions and I totally respect that.
“I wanted to ask the question why change something that wasn’t broken and it was the families that were living in Kings Gap that were settled with their children and why did we need to change it?”
She said she received a response from the government similar to those received by other councils across the country, that the Home Office had a duty to look after asylum seekers and it is up to them how that is done, not necessarily local authorities.
She told the ECHO: “I respected the decision they made. For me it’s also about our residents as well, the disruption to residents. Those families were heavily embedded within the Hoylake community. Why did we need to change anything?”