Home Office Booking ‘Large Number of Empty Beds’ in Hotels, MPs Told

A coach with migrants onboard, leaves Manston immigration short-term holding facility in Manston, Kent, on July 10, 2023. PA

The Home Office is booking thousands of empty hotel beds for illegal immigrants to avoid any overcrowding at processing centres, MPs have been told.

Home Office Second Permanent Secretary Simon Ridley told the public accounts committee on Monday they were trying to keep a “buffer” of 5,000 beds at hotels around the country in case there is an influx of small boat crossings in the English Channel.