I was shocked to be told last week that 130 people currently being held in the asylum system were being placed in the Grand Burstin hotel in Folkestone. Like Shepway Council I had not been given any notice of this decision until after it had been made and the people concerned were already on their way to the town. I have asked the Home Office to review the way in which this decision was made. It was clearly not authorised by Ministers, but rather by officials working for the department. Nevertheless, Folkestone, or any other community for that matter, should not be put in the position again were a decision like this is taken with no notice for or consultation with our local authorities.
The Home Office have consistently assured us that before the end of next week all of the asylum seekers will have been moved out of the Burstin to more secure accommodation elsewhere in the country. The Government will also cover all of the costs relating to their stay; so this will not be a bill that has to be picked up by us. The Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has told me that he wants the Home Office to end as well this practise of placing people being held in the asylum system in short term accommodation in hotels.
Asylum seekers are not 'illegal immigrants'. They are people who have registered with the authorities upon their arrival here and will only be allowed to stay if they have a genuine case. The conflict that has been raging in Syria and Iraq has displaced millions of people in that region, many of whom are seeking to make a new life elsewhere. For people who might have seen friends and members of their family brutally murdered by ISIL forces there can be no doubt that their fear is real.
The Government has increased its investment in our border force to detect people who do try to enter the country without the necessary papers. We also need to look at a Europe-wide solution to managing the rise in asylum and immigration cases across the continent. This should include better detection of people as they enter the EU through countries like Greece or across the Mediterranean into Italy, for example. We should not allow people to move freely across the EU without claiming asylum until they reach their preferred destination. It is this system which is allowing bottle necks of occur in towns like Calais.
These cases of asylum seekers also remind us that if the international community is not prepared to act to solve problems oversees, then they will come to challenge us in different ways at home. Confronting the threat of ISIL in the Middle East is not only a necessary response to try to prevent further humanitarian disasters. It also recognises that ISIL's actions are destabilising a region that borders Europe, and poses a direct security threat to us all. That is why I supported the motion before the House of Commons last Friday, for British forces to support the fight against ISIL in Iraq.