The border safety minister has mentioned extra lodges for asylum seekers have opened since Labour got here into authorities, however she pledged to finish their use.
Dame Angela Eagle advised parliament there are presently 220 lodges in use for asylum seekers, with seven having shut since July – however 14 extra have opened.
Labour promised to shut asylum lodges of their manifesto, however she mentioned they didn’t commit “to close all asylum hotels within four months”.
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The border safety and asylum minister mentioned the rationale was the scenario left by the Conservatives, with 116,000 asylum seekers “stuck in a backlog” of greater than two years when Labour got here into energy in July.
She mentioned the system “ground to a standstill” as a result of the Tories have been busy pursuing the Rwanda coverage “which was doomed to failure”.
“We inherited an unholy mess from the party opposite,” she mentioned.
The Rwanda coverage aimed to ship these coming into the UK illegally from a secure nation to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there, reasonably than within the UK.
Nonetheless, only one particular person was despatched to the African nation, voluntarily, and Labour scrapped the coverage as quickly as they received the election.
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‘We do not know something about them’
Dame Angela mentioned whereas they take care of the backlog the federal government nonetheless has a authorized obligation to offer lodging for asylum seekers.
“We remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers,” she mentioned.
The minister added asylum choices have gone from lower than 1,000 a month to 10,000, which Labour MP Jo White mentioned was 1,000 greater than final week.
Dame Angela added the federal government has returned practically 10,000 individuals to the international locations they got here from since July, which she mentioned “is nearly a 20% increase”.
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Conservative former minister Gavin Williamson accused Labour of not having another deterrent to the Rwanda coverage. Pic: PA
The minister was answering an pressing query from Gavin Williamson, a Tory minister for a lot of the final administration, who has written to the house secretary about his “utter shock and dismay” a resort in his constituency is as soon as once more getting used to accommodate asylum seekers.
He accused the Labour authorities of missing a “credible deterrent” after scrapping the Rwanda scheme.
