Skegness: Asylum seeker meeting hears system 'creaking at the seams'

About 400 people attended the meeting on Friday at the Storehouse in Skegness

The MP for a seaside town which is housing asylum seekers in five hotels has claimed the immigration system is "creaking at the seams".

About 400 people attended a meeting in Skegness, with Tory MP Matt Warman questioned about the suitability of the hotels and the town to house migrants.

At present there are 215 asylum seekers staying in the town during processing.

During more than two hours of questions, the MP told attendees there was no easy answers to solve the issue.

• Inside the seaside town at centre of asylum debate

The Home Office was invited to attend the meeting at the Storehouse, North Parade, but did not take part.

Some residents shared their concerns that Skegness would no longer be viewed as a family resort and the situation would harm business.

"I ran a hotel in Margate, where this exact same thing has already happened," one woman said.

"It died the same death that people are worried about here."

One contributor said the town's hotels were being used as a "dumping ground".

He continued: "People are already cancelling vacations to Skegness.

"What will the council do when all of the businesses go bust?"

A hotel manager claimed he turned down £500,000 from the government to house asylum seekers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The meeting was hosted by Matt Warman MP, with the public questions running for more than two hours

Mr Warman, Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness, told the meeting he was urging the home secretary to stop using Skegness' hotels as soon as possible.

"The immigration system is creaking at the seams and the government is using places like Skegness to prop it up," he said.

"We don't have the resources compared to big cities like London - disused military bases would also be a more viable solution."

The 215 asylum seekers are being housed across five Skegness hotels and one in Boston.

Several people said they no longer felt safe, with one woman telling the panel "we're scared to go out at night".

Supt Pat Coates, of Lincolnshire Police, said there had not been an increase in reported crime.