Inside the rise of the Pram Power Posse – the unlikely women fighting against the migrant crisis for their kids’ future ...Middle East

WALKING towards the high street, Heather Watson, 31, joins dozens of people at a protest rally in Orpington, Bromley, alongside her husband James. 

The pregnant mum-of-two is at a gathering outside the TLK Apartments and Hotel on the outskirts of the town, one of around 210 sites across the UK currently being used to house asylum seekers.

Heather is one of the thousands of women now actively signing up and taking part in demonstrations across the country as part of a group dubbed the ‘Pram Posse’.

“We’re mums who haven’t protested before, but we’re angry because the government is choosing migrants over mothers’ and kids’ needs and using taxpayer funds to pay for it,” claims Heather. 

A staggering 32,059 people are now living in hotels across Britain, an 8 per cent jump in a year, according to Home Office figures. 

It’s this rise which has helped fuel protests nationwide.

For Heather, it’s not about hate, but about services under pressure. 

“Pram Posse protesters are not racist,” she says. 

“I’m a mum fighting to be heard and fighting for my kids’ future. I believe it’s under threat because of the billions being spent on asylum seeker hotels.

“I went to the Orpington rally because I feel my family is suffering.

”Money is going to hotels instead of the NHS, education or other services. 

“I think the growing number of migrants in communities like mine could be impacting delays to my children’s doctor’s appointments, dental visits and access to education.”

Heather, an admin assistant, lives with James, 35, an IT worker, and their children, aged 11 and six. 

“Calling mums like me racist for wanting a measured approach to the growth of these hotels and more consultation with local communities is wrong,” she insists.

“I can’t get an NHS dentist, but the government pays billions out to people who have just arrived. The government is choosing migrants over mums. It fired me up.”

If we don’t protest and nothing changes, then we can only blame ourselves

Heather decided to join the Pram Posse protest after speaking to other concerned parents.

“There were some mums in my neighbourhood kicking off after discovering the TLK apartments housed asylum seekers, but we were not allowed to know how many were men and how many were women,” she says.

“It’s basic information and mums like me were being denied it. 

“I realised leaving the blokes to protest would mean women’s voices would be left out. We need a female perspective. 

“If we don’t protest and nothing changes, then we can only blame ourselves.”

Britain at breaking point

The debate over migrant housing has escalated recently, as the number of asylum seekers in temporary hotel accommodation has climbed to just over 32,000 in a year. 

Although this is still far lower than the record 56,042 crammed into hotels in September 2023, many feel Britain is at breaking point. 

And while the number of hotels used has fallen, critics claim more people are being crammed into fewer sites.

In Bromley, where Heather lives, Home Office figures show there were 39 asylum seekers in hotels in June 2024, rising to 48 by June 2025 – an increase of 23 per cent.

Bromley Council say the TLK site where Heather protested is a government-funded hostel housing children, women and families – not single men – but refused to confirm numbers. 

Heather believes even 48 asylum seekers adds to pressure already felt by local services.

“There aren’t enough GPs to cope with Orpington’s population and adding more hotel-based asylum seekers increases that pressure,” she argues.

“My daughter’s been waiting for speech therapy for over 12 months.

”Children of asylum seekers are classed as vulnerable and it’s possible they may take precedence over my child.”

The Home Office spent £3.1 billion on hotels out of £4.7 billion in total asylum support for 2023–24, according to The National Audit Office.

NHS England guidance cited in parliamentary evidence reveals local commissioners were given £150 per new arrival in 2022–23 and £97 in 2023–24 to pay for GP registration and health checks.

Doctors of the World research confirmed asylum seekers in hotels often present with unmet health and mental health needs that strain local services, but couldn’t quantify the number in relation to Bromley or Britain.

Meanwhile the protests have an impact on policing, with evidence from the 2024 National Police Chiefs’ Council showing that of the 246 confirmed protests outside asylum accommodation that year, 88 were large enough to need major policing resources.

Previously, men have been more likely to attend street demonstrations, but now a Community Life Survey 2024 shows an equal number of men and women taking part.

Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, is also pulling in women at both ends of the age spectrum. 

Support among Gen Z women has surged in the past year, leaping from 12 to 21 per cent after the May 2025 local elections. 

And backing from Gen X women – those aged 45–60 – has almost doubled in two years, rising from 16 per cent in mid-2023 to around a third today. 

The jump in female members is thought to be due to Reform’s pro-family economic pledges, including scrapping the two-child benefit cap and its “Women for Reform” campaign, centred on safety, transparency and protecting children.

That transparency and Reform UK’s support for the anti-asylum seeker hotel protests is seen as a key reason women are also joining the Pram Posse movement.

In July this year, a wave of female anti-migrant campaigners known as the “Pink Ladies” burst onto Britain’s streets, donning head-to-toe pink to protest outside migrant hotels. 

They claim they’re standing up for women’s and children’s safety in the face of the government’s migrant hotel policy, but critics have accused them of being far-right supporters.

Their rise in numbers – and pink outfits – made them one of the most visible symbols of Britain’s summer of protests.

Mums like Heather consider themselves not only Pram Posse protesters, but Pink Ladies as well. 

We feel we’re falling further down the list of priorities

“For us it’s about family and how the government prioritises us,” says Heather.

“We feel we’re falling further down the list of priorities.”

But women are also leading the charge in the surge in campaigners joining the anti-racism, pro-migrant movement.

That’s confirmed by the Community Life Survey 2023 to 2024, which shows 35 per cent of women surveyed volunteer at least once a month, compared with 31 per cent of men. 

On the ground, that means more mums, grans and daughters standing shoulder-to-shoulder with students and trade unionists at counter-protests.

In the past two months, marches under the Say No to Racism and Stand Up to Racism banners have mobilised far bigger crowds than the anti-migrant side, with women increasingly at the forefront.

Between July and August at three major protests in Epping, Bristol and Perth in Scotland, police figures showed that for 500–750 anti-migrant demonstrators, there were 1,150 to 2,600 counter-protesters including men and women.

On September 13, thousands will flood into Central London for the March Against Fascism organised by the Say No to Racism campaign. 

Those for and against migrant hotels will attend, including the Pink Ladies.

Already police and councils are worried about flashpoints.

Admin Manager Amanda Taylor 44 lives in Leicester and is a single mum to a daughter,  17, and two boys aged 11 and nine years old and is joining nationwide protests calling for more government transparency.

Amanda is a proud pink lady  and pram posse member because  she reckons mums are not allowed to know who is being housed in these hotels or even where the accommodation is.

 “I am horrified Leicester City Council has refused FOI requests from locals to reveal which hotels are currently being used as taxpayer-funded housing for asylum seekers.

“This level of secrecy is ridiculous.

“In 2025 Home Office figures showed six in ten asylum seekers or 62% were men, women just 21%  and remaining 17% are children who  made up the 111,084 people seeking asylum for the previous year until June 2025.

That figure logically means most hotels house more men, a conclusion supported by government numbers.

“As a mum I am desperately worried why basic statistical information needs to be so secret.

”The knock-on impact means there are no official numbers to show how many crimes, particularly sexual offences, may have been committed by people living in these hotels.

“Our councils have no say in hotels being set up. The public isn’t allowed to know the locations or the gender mix being housed locally.”

‘Stuck renting while asylum seekers get free accommodation’

Amanda believes this lack of transparency is leading to heightened fears amongst locals – particularly mums. 

“The Pram Posse unites when their families and future are in doubt,” she says. 

“I am a single parent who’s run a business for eight years. Yet I am stuck renting and have no assistance, while asylum seekers get free accommodation, meals, fast-tracked medical care and other services.

“When mums take to the streets, you realise it is serious. It shows the government’s decisions are confusing and make us fearful for our future.”

Pro-migrant mum Joyce Keogh, 40, from Launceston, Devon, agrees great transparency is needed, but says throwing asylum seekers out of hotels isn’t the answer.

She joined protestors outside the Hampton by Hilton Hotel at Exeter Airport – understood to be housing migrants – over the August Bank Holiday weekend. 

“It’s not the asylum seekers’ fault they’ve been sent by government officials to hotels across the country,” says the mum-of-three. 

“These vulnerable people, especially the mums and kids, need a safe haven.

“I started protesting because if we let the men yell the loudest, if we let the far-right men yell the loudest, no one will hear the alternative argument.

”I want to be part of the Pram Posse on the pro-hotel side, so I can at least say I tried.

“Women are joining both sides of the debate to show their kids the things that matter to them.

”I agree more transparency is needed, but throwing asylum seekers out of hotels isn’t the answer.

“I want my mixed-race kids to know we must stand up to racism when people of colour from war zones are unfairly attacked. 

“The vast majority [of asylum seekers] just want a second chance at life.

”The Pram Posse is growing because the system is clearly breaking.

”We gave men and government officials a chance. Now you’ve made mums angry on both sides.”

On August 22, police were called to a protest Heather attended when migrant and anti-migrant groups clashed. 

Similar scenes erupted nationwide, as part of the Abolish Asylum System weekend of protests.

Last Sunday, an anti-migrant protest in London’s Canary Wharf turned violent and four people were arrested when demonstrators stormed a shopping mall demanding the closure of a local “migrant hotel.” 

The protests escalated after an asylum seeker was charged over the alleged attempted sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl while housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex. 

In a shock decision last Friday, a temporary injunction preventing asylum seekers from being housed at the hotel was overturned. 

Government lawyers successfully argued shutting down the Bell Hotel would have a “chaotic and disorderly” impact across England and was at odds with ministers’ legal obligations to find accommodation for destitute asylum seekers.

The decision only served to fire up anti-migrant protestors.

Insufficient background checks

Both Heather and Amanda say they are worried about insufficient background checks on people seeking asylum.

“If people are fleeing a war-torn country, the government cannot possibly guarantee they have full access to a person’s criminal history,” Amanda claims.

“It is not out of hatred, but frustration over our families’ futures. It is not wrong to want your home country to give you and your kids priority over people who may have just arrived.”

Meanwhile, pro-migrant demonstrators believe it’s easier to make claims than to back them up with hard facts.

The one thing all agree on is that more women are actively protesting to voice their views.

“I am glad more women are participating,” says Joyce. 

“How we go about fixing this is creating a hotbed of national frustration and fury – and repairing whatever is broken is where our focus needs to be.” 

Fabulous emailed Bromley Council a list of questions regarding the protests and Heather’s claims. At the time of publication, there had been no reply from officials.

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