POLITICS
Sunak told Home Office to halve migrant hotel closures
PM’s lack of faith in Rwanda policy blamed for No 10 scaling back plan to reduce accommodation
Rishi Sunak was said to have been concerned about the loss of hotel space in case of a new surge in Channel crossings
YUI MOK/PA
Rishi Sunak overruled the Home Office over plans to close dozens more migrant hotels which has left taxpayers paying £1.5 million for 10,000 empty beds, The Times can reveal.
In October the Home Office drew up proposals to close 100 hotels by January but the prime minister ordered the target to be scaled down to 50.
Downing Street feared that the government would be forced to reopen hotels this summer in the event of a surge of migrant crossings, which would damage Sunak politically before the general election.
However, a Home Office insider said it exposed Sunak’s “lack of faith” in the Rwanda policy acting as a deterrent. “No 10 had a low expectation of Rwanda working so they wanted to maintain hotel space and
