Asylum seekers moved out of two Calderdale hotels

The Home Office has announced that The Wool Merchant Hotel in Halifax and The Rock Hotel in Hollywell Green will no longer be used by people who have been forced to flee from their homes.

The government says it is scaling up its use of “large, basic accommodation sites” for asylum seekers instead.

It has now moved up to 350 people to the Crowborough military barracks, which opened only three months ago.

It says those who have their asylum claims rejected will be removed from the UK.

Border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said: “This is about restoring control, ending waste, and handing hotels back to the community for good.”

The government says it is also removing accommodation from people who can afford to support themselves and from those who break the rules.