ASYLUM seekers currently living in a Carlisle hotel are going to be moved out of the county, an MP has confirmed.

Those living in the Cumbria Park Hotel on Scotland Road will be moved from the hotel, or have their applications processed completely, by the end of January 2024, according to Carlisle MP John Stevenson.

This will mean the hotel will cease being accommodation for asylum seekers by that time. The announcement follows a similar situation at the Waverley Hotel in Whitehaven.

This comes as more than 50 hotels in the UK in which asylum seekers are living were confirmed to have the residents moved out to military bases or barges.

This is because hotels were deemed by the government to be inappropriate accommodation providers for asylum seekers.

Recently, asylum seekers have been moved to barges like Bibby Stockholm, a move supported by the MP, but criticised by others like charity Rainbow Migration as being a 'floating prison' where living quarters are too small and people are not allowed to move freely around the port.

Mr Stevenson has been an opponent of the use of hotels for asylum seekers to live in and wait for their application.

He said he thinks the news is positive for Cumbria because the hotel will be available to the community and visitors to stay again.

The Hilltop Hotel on London Road has not been confirmed to be affected yet, but Mr Stevenson said there will be another announcement at some point about other hotels.

"Cumbria Park Hotel is part of the community, and was used by visitors and locals for events and parties, so I welcome this news.

"Processing applications more quickly is the right thing to do," Mr Stevenson said.

Cumbria Park Hotel was first announced as a site for families seeking refuge in November 2022. 

Elizabeth Mallinson, former Carlisle City Council member for Stanwix, commented: "I welcome the news that the hotel will be closing.

"The MP and I worked closely when the announcement came to make sure that it would only be women living there.

"I'm very pleased that a lot of the residents have moved on and some because their applications have been processed, and others have been moved to be with their families.

"I welcome that the hotel will go back to the community.

"It's been missed because the meeting and function rooms were used by local businesses and for events.

"I look forward to it going back to being a hotel and welcoming people back to Stanwix."

On the concerns that the other accommodation is inappropriate, she said: "One has to look at the whole picture.

"There are a lot of concerns across the UK that hotel accommodation is being used at a tremendous cost to the taxpayer while people are struggling to make a living.

"The humanitarian side of the coin is that until their applications are processed, they need to be well looked after, but the time has come to move as many people as possible, but it to be done according to the circumstances, hotel by hotel.

"They will continue to be well looked after, and I think the Labour Party will be supportive in making sure they're not in hotel accommodation - some of our army bases are great accommodation.

"We must make sure there are safe roofs over their heads."

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: "Taxpayers cannot be expected to foot the eye-watering bill for the use of hotels to accommodate individuals making illegal, dangerous and wholly unnecessary small boat crossings.  

"Our strategy to stop the boats is making progress. With small boat arrivals down more than 20 per cent compared with last year, we can now start to restore these hotels to their rightful use for local communities."

Cumberland Council member for Stanwix, and Lib Dem candidate for Carlisle at the next general election, Brian Wernham, criticised the move.

He said: "We've had no problems with the refugees being housed here.

"They have been welcomed by the community and Carlisle Refugee Action Group (CRAG) have received many donations from people here, it's gone much smoother than anyone hoped.

"It devastates me to think that those women who were on courses at Carlisle College aren't going to be able to continue their courses if they move out of the area.

"I'm concerned that they're going to be moved into an area that is not safe for them, the idea of these people moving away from centres of support is appalling.

"The idea of them moving out to a military institution is appalling."

Cllr Wernham also spoke of residents socialising with many of the asylum seekers there, engaging in sporting activities and arranging volunteers to help them throughout.

Julie Minns, Labour candidate for Carlisle at the next general election, said: "The announcement that asylum seekers are to be moved from the Cumbria Park Hotel is yet another example of the government expecting a pat on the back for solving a problem they created.

"Since Rishi Sunak announced he would end hotel use the number of people in hotels has surged to a record high, and those costs have risen to an astronomical £8million a day. 

"As of June, there were 50,000 people in asylum hotels.

"Meanwhile, the number of people with no legal basis to stay in the UK – including failed asylum seekers – being removed has plummeted.

"Returns of failed asylum seekers is down 70 per cent on 2010 and an asylum case is now stuck in the asylum backlog for an average of four years.

"Moving asylum seekers out of hotels doesn't change this catalogue of failure.

"By contrast Labour has a clear plan to crackdown on criminal smuggler gangs, clear the backlog, end hotel use and reform legal routes for refugees to stop people being exploited by gangs."