Ashley Fox has welcomed confirmation that the Holiday Inn in North Petherton will stop being used as asylum accommodation by the end of July 2026.
The Home Office has confirmed that those currently staying at the hotel will be moved to other accommodation as part of its plan to phase out hotel use.
Ashley Fox MP said,
”I welcome the decision to end the use of the Holiday Inn in North Petherton as asylum accommodation, though this should have happened much sooner. Residents have been clear with me about their concerns, and so it is right that this is now coming to an end.”
However, he said the move does not go far enough to address the wider problem:
“Closing one hotel does not solve the issue. Unless illegal crossings are stopped the pressure will simply move somewhere else.
Those arriving illegally in the UK should not be allowed to stay. They should be deported immediately.
The Government must reintroduce a proper deterrent if it is serious about stopping the small boats.
This Government is guilty of self-harm in scrapping the previous Government’s Rwanda scheme before it even began. Had it been allowed to operate, and large numbers of those crossing the Channel been removed to Rwanda, the economic model of the people smugglers would have been broken.”
