Small boat migrant crossings are up (Image: Getty)
Even more asylum seekers are being housed in hotels after a record number of applications from people seeking refuge in the UK.
The number in expensive hotel accommodation rose to 38,079 Home Office figures showed, despite Labour’s general election promise to “end asylum hotels”. This is up from 35,651 last September and 29,585 in June, before Labour came to power.
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “With no deterrent, and an obsession with rewarding criminal migrants with British passports, today’s figures are no surprise.
“Despite promising to end hotel usage for asylum seekers, the numbers have gone up again and they are costing Britons dear.
“Removals of small boat arrivals are down again under Labour, with only 4 per cent of small boat arrivals being removed. Does the Labour Government really think that letting 96 per cent of illegal immigrants stay here is going to deter anybody?”
He added: “Unchecked immigration, and waves of illegals crossing the channel. The blame lies squarely at Labours feet, who have been slow to act, and slower to care, about the crisis unfolding on our border.”
But Labour today insisted it had inherited a “broken” asylum system from the previous government, and said it was deporting more people than every before.
Britain’s overburdened asylum system is struggling to cope after 108,138 people applied in 2024, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
It follows a 25% increase in cross-Channel arrivals with the number coming to the UK in small boats surging to 37,000 in 2024.
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And there are were 124,802 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application, without which they cannot be removed, although this figure is falling.
More asylum seekers came from Pakistan than any other country, followed by Afghanistan and then Iran.
The Home Office also revealed there had been a record number of “age disputes” last year, when asylum seekers claiming to be children undergo medical checks to see if they are really adults. There were 6,270 checks carried out, and 1,873 of those tested were ruled to be 18 or over.
Ministers admitted last month that 220 hotels across the country are currently used to house asylum seekers and the number has risen by six since the election. The cost to taxpayers is £5.4 million every day and MPs have warned the use of hotels provokes tensions in communities and damages local economies.
Labour promised in its general election manifesto last year: “We will hire additional caseworkers to clear the ’ backlog and end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds.”
It says it plans to close nine hotels by March.
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Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently.
They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations.
Experts said there were signs of progress in the asylum system with more claims being processed warned the Home Office must free-up hotels for other uses.
Marley Morris, associate director for migration, trade and communities at think tank IPPR, said: “If the Home Office wants to end the use of hotels, it will need to double down on efforts to improve the speed and quality of decision-making.”
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle said: “Over the last six years, legal migration soared, a criminal smuggler industry was allowed to establish itself in the Channel, and the asylum system was broken.
“Through our Plan for Change we’re restoring order to the system and substantially increasing enforcement. Since July, returns are up to their highest level in half a decade, with 19,000 people with no right to be here removed. Enforced returns up 24% and illegal working arrests and visits increased by 38%.
“Under the previous government, in the last few months before the election, asylum decision making collapsed by more than 70% pushing the backlog right up. We have spent the summer and autumn reversing that damage increasing asylum decision making by 52% in the last three months of 2024, putting us on track to close more asylum hotels next month.”
She added: “We are also ensuring that legal migration continues to come down after the previous government quadrupled net migration in the space of four years. And we have already taken action to reverse some of the loosening of visa requirements introduced by the last government where we have found evidence of abuse.
“Under the Plan for Change our Immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system.”