New Home Office figures have revealed the number of asylum seekers mounting on hotels as Keir Starmer faces a huge headache following a High Court ruling over Epping
The number of asylum seekers in hotels has risen by 8% in a year as ministers grapple with the “terrible mess” left behind by the Tories.
Data released by the Home Office reveals that 32,059 migrants were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of Labour’s first year in Government. This is down from 32,345 three months earlier – but is from 29,585 at the same point 12 months ago.
The latest figure is 43% lower than the peak under Rishi Sunak, however. For the first time in four years, the asylum applications backlog has fallen below 100,000 people. It now stands at just over 70,000 cases, relating to almost 91,000 people – down by 18% from a year earlier and its lowest since September 2021.
The overall number of asylum applications reached the highest level on record, with 111,000 – an increase of 14%. Less than four in 10 of these applicants arrived by small boats.
It comes as pressure grows on Keir Starmer to end the use of hotels – which he has promised to do by the end of this Parliament. But the PM’s problems got worse on Tuesday when a High Court judge issued a temporary injunction ordering migrants out of the Bell Hotel in Epping. The Home Office is now braced for a series of similar legal challenges from councils across England, including from Labour town halls.
This morning education minister Catherine McKinnell told Sky News: “We inherited a terrible mess from the last government when it comes to the immigration system and particularly the processing of asylum claims – massive backlog.”
When the Tories were in power, the number of migrants living in more than 400 hotels rocketed to 56,000 and was costing taxpayers over £9million a day. The Conservatives started putting thousands of people in hotels back in 2020 when Boris Johnson was PM, insisting it was temporary.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “Bringing the asylum system back from the brink of collapse is a genuine achievement in the government’s first year. The increase in asylum decisions means refugees can begin to rebuild their lives sooner, and the use of costly hotels can be ended faster.
“However, this good work is being put at risk by poor-quality decisions – right now nearly half of appeals are successful. These mistakes have life-changing consequences for the people we work with, who have fled persecution in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan.
“There’s also still far too many people in hotels. Everyone agrees that hotels are the wrong answer – they cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo and are flashpoints in communities. Getting decisions right first time is vital so refugees who need protection can move out of hotels and start rebuilding in safety, while those who don’t have the right to stay can return with dignity and respect.
“Alongside faster, better decisions we also need safe and legal routes, so people escaping conflict can reach the UK without taking dangerous journeys. Schemes for Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan have shown what’s possible; that same lifeline must now be extended to others.”
Pressed on the speed of Government efforts to close asylum hotels, Ms McKinnell said: “What we’ve done is doubled the number of asylum claims that have been processed. So, that is reducing the number of people who are requiring this accommodation, but also returning people that shouldn’t be here.
“We’re also committed to ending the use of asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament. So, it will take some time to clean up the situation that we’ve inherited, but, you know, it’s really important that we continue to both manage the accommodation that people are currently in and also speed up the process.
“The backlogs are totally unacceptable, not only for the amount of time that people are wasting, but that people are just not being returned that shouldn’t be here as well.”
Ministers are keen to avoid a repeat of ugly scenes outside asylum hotels across the country. In recent weeks demonstrators have clashed with police in Epping after a man living at the Bell was accused of assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
It is unclear where people currently living there will go. Khadar Mohamed, 24, told The Mirror those ensconced inside were ‘living in pain and fear’ each time locals held protests outside the hotel and that many now were more uncertain about their futures.
There are fears of further disorder after Reform chief Nigel Farage called for peaceful protests outside asylum hotels across the country. Brendan Cox, co-founder of campaign group Survivors Against Terror told The Mirror: “Farage needs to decide if he wants to be a serious politician or is more interested in being a rabble rouser.”
Mr Cox, whose Labour MP wife Jo was murdered by a far-right terrorist in 2016, continued: “There is a legitimate public debate about the use of hotels for accommodating asylum seekers – calling for protests that he knows full well will intimidate residents, stretch the police and could lead to violence is not the way to address it.”
And Kemi Badenoch has breen branded “desperate and hypocritical” after kicking off over the asylum hotel mess her party caused. The under-fire Tory leader called on Conservative-controlled councils to launch legal challenges over hotels in their area.
Mrs Badenoch said she was “encouraging” them to “take the same steps” as Epping Council “if your legal advice supports it”. A Labour spokesman said her letter was a “pathetic stunt” and “desperate and hypocritical nonsense from the architects of the broken asylum system”. Labour said there were now “20,000 fewer asylum seekers in hotels than at their peak under the Tories”.