Home Office ‘furious at level of illegal migrants’ as protesters target Chesterfield asylum hotel
As campaigners prepare for a ‘peaceful protest’ at a Chesterfield hotel which is housing asylum seekers the Government’s Home Office has stated that it is ‘furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels’ in the country.
More than 600 people attended the last demonstration at the Sandpiper Hotel, on Sheffield Road, in Chesterfield, between Old Whittington and Unstone, in September, as protesters opposed to illegal immigration and counter campaigners keen to defend immigrants were involved with heated exchanges and chanting over strongly-held views on immigration.
The latest anti-immigration demonstration has been organised for 3pm, on Sunday, November 30, by campaigner Gareth Carlile who has called for calm with fliers stipulating a ‘peaceful protest only’ as the Government has announced it will close every asylum hotel while it works towards moving asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels in this country.
“This Government will close every asylum hotel and we are working to move asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation such as military bases, to ease pressure on communities across the country.
“The Home Secretary has set out the most sweeping changes to our asylum system in a generation to restore order and control to our borders.”
Anti-immigration protesters voiced concerns during the first event with claims illegal immigrants are coming to the UK for its welfare benefits and that the costs of housing asylum seekers in hotels is being done at the public’s expense as they brandished Union and St George flags which they referred to as symbols of ‘national pride’.
The flag movement which has seen streets festooned with Union and St George flags has triggered continued debate since it gathered momentum across Derbyshire including in Chesterfield, Staveley, Matlock, and Gamesley and elsewhere across the UK following the launch of the Operation Raise the Colours campaign.
Chesterfield & District TUC’s Unity in the Community counter-demonstration planned for the same event has included publicity calling for people to ‘Unite and Stop The Far Right’ and it has published statements including ‘unity in our community and refugees are welcome here’ and ‘we reject racism, division and all forms of hate from a vocal far right minority’.
A spokesperson for Chesterfield & District TUC, stated the rally will be a safe, stewarded event to show opposition to the far-right who wish to intimidate and threaten refugees at the Sandpiper Hotel and that their counter-demo protesters aim to show that Chesterfield people will stand up against hate and racism and will not allow division and scapegoating.
The Home Office has announced new police powers to protect communities from repeated events in the same location after disruption caused by weeks of protests outside Epping Forest’s Bell Hotel and other UK migrant accommodation.
However, specific rules have not yet been revealed but guidance includes suggestions that protest organisers could hold an event somewhere else if a demonstration has taken place at the same place for weeks.
The Home Office is responsible for housing asylum seekers and although Derbyshire County Council and borough and district councils play no part in this process the county council does have some responsibilities to help unaccompanied child asylum seekers, and the county, district and borough councils do work on resettlement plans for those granted refugee status and with any homelessness issues.
The Home Office has stated that public safety remains its ‘first priority’ for communities, for those accommodated at asylum hotels and for staff and it is working closely with local authorities, property partners and the community as it begins a transition to close asylum hotels.
The Government has stated that it is continuing to prioritise the acquisition of more sustainable dispersal accommodation as it considers alternative locations for asylum seekers including military and industrial sites, temporary facilities and disused accommodation.
It has also stated that it will phase out the use of hotels by the end of this Parliament and it has already saved over half a billion pounds in hotel spend alone in the financial year 2024/25 compared to the previous financial year.
The Government also claims it has returned nearly 50,000 people with ‘no right to be here’ which it claims is up 23per cent in a 16-month period before July 2024, with removals of foreign criminal and asylum related returns up 12per cent and 27per cent respectively over the past year.
Derbyshire Constabulary, Derbyshire County Council, Chesterfield Borough Council, NE Derbyshire District Council have all been given an opportunity to comment but had not done so by the time of publication.
Similar protests have been perceived as intimidating for asylum seekers after the violent scenes which originally unfolded outside one of the first demonstrations of its kind at the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, in Wath upon Dearne, where anti-immigration and counter protesters gathered in August, 2024.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he is determined to close all asylum hotels despite Home Office Statistics showing a recent rise in numbers of asylum seekers being housed temporarily at hotels following a considerable drop, in September, 2023.
Home Office data has revealed that 36,273 people were being housed in asylum hotels in September, 2025, at the time of the first Sandpiper Hotel demonstration.