What matters most to Bolton: recognising Palestine as a state or preventing migrant hotels from opening in Bolton? One of those Bolton Council can control, the other it can’t.
At a meeting of Council, the Conservatives brought forward a vote which would have instructed Bolton Council to take proactive measures to prevent any future migrant hotels opening in the borough. Unfortunately, Labour and the Liberal Democrats decided not to put Bolton first and voted against this necessary action.
The motion would have instructed Bolton Council to do the following:
- To request the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Council's legal team, to urgently assess the merits of seeking an injunction to prevent the use of local hotels for migrant accommodation where it is deemed to be in the best interests of the community.
- To write to the Home Office expressing this Council's concerns about the use of hotels in our area for migrant accommodation and to request full consultation with this Council on any future decisions.
- To call on the Government to develop a sustainable, properly planned, and community consulted approach to housing migrants.
- To call on Government to adopt the Conservative Party’s draft Deportation Bill that tackles the underlying causes.
Labour and the Lib Dems had a choice and chose to ignore the feelings of Bolton residents. But we will always put Bolton first.
Responding to this outcome, Leader of Bolton Conservatives, Cllr Nadim Muslim, said:
Time and again we’re seeing Labour and the Lib Dems voting for things we have no control over, like foreign affairs, and against the things we do, like preventing migrant hotels. I’ve been clear that we’ll always put Bolton first and this is proof of that.
