Rise in asylum hotel misinformation, council body says

Sian Gwenllian says dangerous rumours spread about a building in her constituency

There has been a "noticeable increase" in online misinformation about hotels being used to house asylum seekers in Wales, community leaders have said.

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said it was concerned a rise in rumours or speculation about the location of such hotels could cause "unnecessary concern" and "unintended consequences" for communities.

While Sian Gwenllian, Plaid Cymru MS for Arfon in Gwynedd, said "dangerous" false rumours circulated in her constituency about locations of asylum hotels.

The UK government said it was cutting the number of hotels used and the aim was to close them all by the end of this parliament, which is scheduled to be in 2029.

Community leaders said there had been a rise in speculation online about where asylum hotels are located, which had in turn led to the spread of misinformation.

Local authorities in Anglesey and Merthyr Tydfil, plus officials in Bangor, Gwynedd have all been forced to release statements denying rumours hotels were being used to house asylum seekers.

Gwenllian said a "completely unfounded" post about a building in Bangor concerned residents and created tension.

She has said some "politicians are using [misinformation] for their own advantage" and it was "dangerous" to pit communities against each other.

The WLGA said: "We are seeing a noticeable increase in misinformation being spread, particularly online.

"Misinformation can unfortunately be quickly spread and cause unnecessary concern, and in some cases, lead to unintended consequences for individuals and communities."

The latest Home Office figures showed 32,059 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels in the UK.

In Wales, the figures showed just 76 asylum seekers were housed in such hotels, all in Cardiff, although other forms of accommodation are used to house asylum seekers across the UK.

These figures showed there were 111,000 total asylum applications in the UK in the year to June.

Addressing the Reform UK conference in Birmingham at the beginning of September, the party's only MS, Laura Anne Jones, said it was an issue in Wales and people had a right to be concerned.

"People think to say 'oh you're in Wales, you know it doesn't affect you there', but it does," she told the conference.

The Welsh Refugee Council, which helps people who arrive in Wales said it was concerned about the increase in misinformation that it had seen.

The UK government said it was taking "immediate action to fix the asylum system".

It said: "We have started closing down hotels and returning more than 35,000 people with no right to be here.

"From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9m a day, there are now less than 210. We want them all closed by the end of this parliament."