Peterborough MP Paul Bristow urges minister to open doors to immigration officials' meetings

Peterborough MP Paul Bristow has called on a Government minister to give him access to meetings of immigration officials discussing asylum seekers in the constituency.

The demand comes after Mr Bristow claimed he had been excluded from meetings of the Statutory Immigration Partnership, as it discussed the welfare of asylum seekers that had been transferred from the Manston detention centre in Kent to the Great Northern Hotel and The Verve hotel in his constituency.

About 150 asylum seekers have been moved to the two hotels by the Home Office, with the first arriving on November 11.

In a statement in the House of Commons, Mr Bristow said: “Peterborough City Council and I were given merely hours notice before single men from Manston were transferred to accommodation – the Great Northern Hotel, flagship hotel in my constituency.

"I am strongly of the view that this is the wrong hotel in the wrong location.

"But I did at least have multi-agency meetings that I could attend and listen to healthcare professionals and others about the services that we were offering to them.

"But last weekend I was told that I would be no longer welcome at those meetings and that this was standard practice for MPs across the country.

But he said: “I don’t want a post-meeting briefing, I do not want to be treated like a stakeholder.

"I want to listen to healthcare professionals on the ground about conditions in these hotels in my constituency.

"S will the Minister right here, right now, no ifs, not buts, instruct those responsible for organising those meetings and tell them to adopt some flexibility and, God forbid, some common sense and get the local MP round there listening, contributing, my constituents would expect nothing less.”

In reply, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick promised to 'look into' Mr Bristow’s request.

He added that it was not unusual for multi agency meetings to be official meetings and it was not an ordinary practise for the political leaders of local authorities or MPs to be part of multi agency meetings.

He said instructions to Mr Bristow to stay away from the meeting had not come from the Home Office and that he would look into the matter.