Leader of Sefton Council, Labour’s Ian Maher, has criticised Southport MP Damien Moore over comments made regarding Home Office proposals to house asylum seekers at Pontins.
Sefton Council publicly stated last week that they had been informed that the Home Office was no longer planning to continue with the proposals, but Damien Moore posted via his Facebook page on Monday calling on the Council to “publicly state as soon as possible that they are axing the Pontins asylum-seekers plan.”
Mr Moore said on Monday: “It is not right for the Council to keep my constituents waiting anxiously, when a short statement from them would put this to bed once and for all.
“I have done all I can to oppose these plans in Westminster, and I urge the Council to use this clarity I have today achieved in Parliament to immediately state that they will not proceed with housing asylum-seekers at Pontins.
“I have written to the Council to ask that they immediately and publicly confirm their position on this matter, both to the Home Office and to our town. People are understandably worried, and it is not right that the Council keep them waiting any longer.
The Home Office had originally approached Sefton Council in 2022 seeking to explore the possibility of housing up to 3,000 asylum seekers at the maligned holiday camp.
Both Sefton Council and Damien Moore had opposed the plans, with much of the concern centring around additional strain that would be placed on Sefton Council’s Children’s Services.
Mr Moore had raised the issue both in written parliamentary questions and in the House of Commons in recent days, seeking clarification from the government on whether the local authority could deny any Home Office request.
Cllr Maher said: “It is disappointing to see Southport’s Tory MP making misleading comments about this process, which is about finding shelter for people who have in many cases been forced to risk their lives fleeing conflict and persecution.”
OTS News has reached out to the office of Damien Moore for comment.
Cllr Maher continued: “Sefton Council has a long history of welcoming people in these circumstances to the Borough and supporting them and as a result when consulted by the Government about its plans to use Southport Pontins we gave it full consideration.
“We raised a number of issues with the Home Office which included expressing concerns about the additional pressure the site would place on our social services which, as a result of over a decade of Government underfunding and the effects of the COVID pandemic, are already under extreme pressure. We were informed some days ago by the Home Office that it had abandoned its plans for Southport Pontins. However, we are still awaiting confirmation in writing of this decision.
“It has been a complex issue and we assumed the Home Office decision was the last of it, so I was surprised to hear Damien Moore making contradictory comments this week.
“This Government needs to get a grip on its broken immigration policy rather than have a Conservative MP trying to implicate others for his Government’s own failures.”
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