Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:41 am on 4 September 2025.
Lucy Powell
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons, Chair, Modernisation Committee, Chair, Modernisation Committee
10:41,
4 September 2025
I share the frustration, concern and indeed anger in many parts about the huge use of asylum hotels, and now HMOs, in dealing with the asylum backlog, which was left by the hon. Gentleman’s party after it was in power. Indeed, I remember the Shadow Home Secretary and the shadow Justice Secretary going round the country opening these hotels and allowing this to happen. They left us with a huge backlog. We need to take all necessary steps to bring down illegal migration, deal with these issues and close the hotels. That is what we want to do, but as the hon. Gentleman says, we cannot just make the problem dissipate into other parts of the community. That is why we are working to tackle it.
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