Panicking senior Labour MPs have called for the closure of asylum hotels in months rather than years and called for a Rwanda-style deportation scheme after more “dire” official figures on migration.
A record 111,084 people applied for asylum in the first year of the Labour government, while the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels rose 8 per cent to 32,059 after a surge in Channel crossings, new data showed on Thursday.
The figures came as the Home Office scrambled to deal with a new potential crisis as councils around the country consider legal action to close asylum hotels in their areas following a court ruling that 138 migrants should be removed from The Bell hotel in Epping, Essex.
Senior Labour MPs, all of them under threat of losing their seats to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK according to a YouGov survey, urged the Government to go “further and faster” to cut the number of small boats crossings – with a record near-28,000 people arriving in the UK in 2025 so far – and speed up its timeline to close asylum hotels within “months” rather than the current 2029 target.
Despite the growing angst in Labour ranks with the party trailing Reform in the polls, a Home Office source indicated that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was sticking to her target to shut asylum hotels by the next election, due in 2029, in line with the party’s manifesto commitment.
Steve Yemm, the MP for Mansfield, said the Government should set up “return hubs” that would see all Channel migrants deported on arrival and sent on a one-way ticket to another country, even if they were found to be genuine refugees – a scheme that would replicate the much-criticised Conservative Rwanda policy that Cooper scrapped on taking office.
Commenting on Thursday’s figures, the MP told The i Paper: “Of course it is welcome that the Labour government has already acted to increase returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30 per cent, cut asylum costs by 11 per cent and has reduced the backlog by 18 per cent and plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system.
“However, my constituents in Mansfield want the Government to go further and faster and I would welcome legal and cost effective return hubs overseas.
“Under that approach, every small boat arrival would be sent not to a UK hotel but to a third country where they would stay even if their claim was upheld.
“If all 900 arrivals were deported on a Monday, and all 700 on the Tuesday, then how many might arrive on the Friday?”
A senior Labour MP, who told The i Paper at the weekend “nothing should be off the table” when asked about a potential Rwanda 2.0, on Thursday called for a “proper deterrent” to stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel.
A second senior Labour MP, also under threat from Reform, said that despite the “dire” headlines there were signs of improvements, with hotel use down 43 per cent on the peak under the Tories in September 2023 and the backlog of claims falling below 100,000 people for the first time in four years.
But the MP, who described themselves as “loyal”, added: “The Government should just announce a timescale to close the last 200 hotels, and it should be done in months not years – with larger sites being used.
A surge of small boats is blamed for a rise in hotel use by migrants (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)“The PM must take a personal grip of this too.”
The MP, who has asylum hotels in their constituency, also appeared to back councils considering legal action.
“Of course councils are looking at options – hotels were forced on them by the last government – no one wants the hotels, and we should understand and respect councils and communities who say no more.”
Up to 28 councils are now considering following Epping in taking legal action, ITV News reported, eight of which are Labour.
There are currently 210 hotels housing 32,000 asylum seekers in the UK, at a cost of £5.7m a day, down from 400 hotels costing £9m a day under the Conservatives.
Call to quit ECHR
Graham Stringer, who represents Blackley and Middleton South in Manchester, meanwhile became the first Labour MP to call for the UK to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The Government plans to curb the use of Article 8 of the ECHR to appeal against asylum rejections, but not withdraw from the convention, which experts warn would imperil the Northern Ireland peace deal and other international agreements.
Stringer told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “What you’ve got to remember is most of the people crossing the Channel are young men, they have destroyed their papers before they get here, they’re coming from a completely civilised country in France.
“They’re paying international criminals to get here and the courts are saying they have a right to stay under the refugee convention, I assume, and possibly other conventions. That doesn’t seem reasonable to me.”
Pressed to confirm whether he was suggesting the UK should withdraw from the ECHR and the Refugee Convention, Mr Stringer replied: “Yes.”
The figures published on Thursday also showed some positive news for Cooper with spending on asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation such as hotels but not costs relating to intercepting migrants crossing the English Channel, down 12 per cent £4.76bn in the year ending March 2025.
The asylum backlog – the number of people waiting for an initial decision on claims – was also down 17 per cent at the end of June, to 90,812, the lowest level since September 2021.
Dr Nuni Jorgensen, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “Reducing the backlog in processing asylum claims is critical to any plan to reduce the use of contingency accommodation like hotels.
“Although the initial decision backlog is down since Labour came to office, a new backlog has built up in the courts due to appeals against unsuccessful decisions.
“The Government will be hoping that its enforcement activities and the new returns agreement with France will reduce the number of people applying for asylum and requiring accommodation, but there is no sign of this in the data so far.”
Read Next
square ASYLUM SEEKERS AnalysisThe four big asylum problems Keir Starmer faces from record-breaking new figures
Read MoreHome Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted Labour’s actions in the past year in increasing returns of failed asylum seekers, cutting asylum costs and the backlog, as well as plans to overhaul what she described as the “failing” asylum appeal system, are all “crucial steps to restoring order and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government”.
But shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having “lost control of Britain’s borders”, claiming “hotels would already be gone” if the Conservatives were still in power.
The Refugee Council praised Labour for “bringing the asylum system back from the brink of collapse”, saying quicker asylum decisions “means refugees can begin to rebuild their lives sooner, and the use of costly hotels can be ended faster”.
Hence then, the article about labour panic as dire asylum figures add to migrant hotel woes was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Labour panic as ‘dire’ asylum figures add to migrant hotel woes )
Also on site :
- Greenland hit by power outage, strong winds in wake of US tensions easing
- Cuban official accuses US of ‘piracy’ against sanctioned Caribbean island
- Numbrix 9 - January 25