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Asylum hotel's contract to be cancelled this year, says MP

Rajdeep SandhuScotland political correspondent
News imageGetty Images Anti-migrant protesters outside the Cladhan Hotel on 13 September. Two men carry a union flag with the phrase Stop the boats written on it. The man at the back is dressed in black and the man at the front is wearing shorts, a tshirt and a hat which all feature the flag. In the background are counter-protesters and a banner reading: Stop Islamophobia. Stop the hate.Getty Images
Asylum seekers have been housed at the hotel since 2021

The contract for a hotel in Falkirk to be used as accommodation for asylum seekers will be cancelled this year, the local Labour MP has said.

The Cladhan was the site of several demonstrations last summer involving pro and anti-immigration demonstrators.

The protests, which have continued on a smaller scale this year, were attended by hundreds of people on both sides and led to multiple arrests.

It is understood the hotel, on the town's Kemper Avenue, has not been used for accommodating asylum seekers since August and no more will be taken in.

The UK government has been shutting down hotels housing asylum seekers in order to hand them back to communities.

Falkirk MP Euan Stainbank said he welcomed the government's decision to cancel the contract.

He said: "I have continued to push for the contract to end and for The Cladhan's use as asylum accommodation to be brought to a formal and definitive close.

"It was never right for Falkirk and it was never right for those residing there."

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

News imageA grey and white two-storey building with a car park at the front
The Cladhan was first used to house asylum seekers five years ago

The Cladhan was first used as asylum accommodation under the previous Conservative government in 2021.

Protests outside the hotel were inflamed last year by the conviction of an asylum seeker from Afghanistan for raping a 15-year-old girl in the town.

Sadeq Nikzad was jailed for nine years at the High Court in Livingston last June, following the attack in October 2023.

Earlier this week, Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, a former resident at the Cladhan, was jailed for four years for sexually assaulting two women in Falkirk in November last year.