Britain's asylum hotel system is often presented as a humanitarian necessity. But behind the public argument sits a much colder question: who gets paid?
The Asylum Hotel Economy follows the money behind one of Britain's most controversial public spending scandals. It examines the contractors, subcontractors, hotel interests, security firms, travel providers, charities, political actors and criminal networks connected to the rise of asylum accommodation hotels.
This book does not claim that every person in the system is acting unlawfully. It does something more important: it maps the financial and institutional incentives that allowed an emergency measure to become a multi-billion-pound marketplace.
Inside, the book looks at:
the Home Office contracts behind asylum accommodationthe companies paid to provide housing and supporthow hotels became vastly more expensive than dispersed accommodationthe role of Clearsprings Ready Homes, Serco, Mears, Stay Belvedere Hotels, Corporate Travel Management, Mitie and othersthe political incentives that kept the issue alivethe convicted smugglers and criminal networks profiting before migrants reach Britainthe gaps in public transparency around hotel ownership, rates, subcontractors and profitwhy ordinary taxpayers and local communities are left carrying the costThis is a direct, evidence-led examination of a system that has too often hidden behind euphemism, bureaucracy and moral blackmail.
If Britain is paying the bill, Britain has the right to see the invoice.