Asylum seekers in hotels rise by 8% under Labour | Politics News
The number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has risen by 8% since Labour came to power, the latest government figures show.
The Home Office data revealed there were 32,059 asylum seekers in hotels at the end of June – up from 29,585 in June 2024.
However, the proportion of all asylum seekers staying in hotels remained the same at 30% – this is due to more asylum seekers overall.
Read more: Badenoch urges Tory councils to launch legal challenges
Labour came to power on 5 July last year, with Sir Keir Starmer promising to end “the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this parliament”.
June’s figure for migrant hotels was just 286 people fewer than the previous quarter, from January to March this year.
Thursday’s data is 43% lower than the peak of 56,042, recorded at the end of September 2023.
Epping asylum seekers in hotels rose 90%
It was released just days after Epping Forest District Council won an injunction at the High Court to block asylum seekers from lodging at The Bell Hotel following a series of protests against them being there.
Other councils are now considering whether they should also launch legal action based on hotel owners not having planning permission to house migrants.
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Court rules asylum seekers to be removed from hotel
The latest data shows Epping had 55 asylum seekers in March, with 51% of those in hotels, but by the end of June that rose to 221, with 90% in hotels.
The Migration Observatory estimates housing asylum seekers in hotels is six times more expensive than other forms of accommodation, with a daily cost per asylum seeker of Β£170 in a hotel compared with Β£27 for other accommodation.
Total asylum seekers reaches record high
Thursday’s data shows the total number of people applying for asylum since Labour came to power reached a record high for a 12-month period since records began in 2001.
The data shows a total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the year to June 2025.
This is up 14% from 97,107 in the year to June 2024.
The previous record for a 12-month period was 109,343 in the year to March 2025 – covering three quarters of Labour’s current tenure.
However, the number of decisions being made on asylum claims fell by 13% in the year to June, to 134,037 – though this is still close to record levels.
Migrants who arrived in the UK in small boats accounted for 39% of the total number of people claiming asylum in the year to June.
The majority of the UK’s 390 local authorities have asylum seekers in their area, with just 30 (27 in England, two in Scotland, one in Northern Ireland) not having any.
A total of 91% of local authorities have asylum seekers in them, up from 89% in March, while 86% had people claiming asylum in them last June, and just 27% in 2015.
Overall immigration down
While the number of asylum seekers has risen in the past year, overall immigration (including legal) is 7% lower than the same data period last year which covers the three months before Labour took office.
But the 190,920 people who came to the UK both legally and illegally in April, May and June this year is 68% lower than the peak from July to September 2023, when a record 596,106 people came to the UK.
This has been driven by a 17% decrease in the granting of work visas and, to a lesser extent, decreases in family and humanitarian visas.
However, there was a 20% increase in study visas and a 65% increase in small boat arrivals.
Unpleasant reading for the government
In the context of this week’s focus on asylum hotels, this latest data dump from the Home Office does not make pleasant reading for the government.
The number of people being housed in hotels in Labour’s first year in office is up, small boat arrivals are up as well.
Given that, it’s perhaps surprising that the number of asylum seekers in hotels didn’t rise by more.
That could be explained by a cut in the backlog of people waiting for their claims to be considered.
Enforced deportations are also up by 25% on the previous year.
Nevertheless, expect to hear Reform and the Tories screaming about the hotel and small boat stats in the months ahead.
On legal migration, it’s a different story.
Health and care visas issued to care workers fell by 88% compared with the previous year.
Visas issued to the dependents of students were also down 81%.
That all brought the number of total immigrants who came in the year to June down by 30% to 891,764.
It’s a lot lower than the peaks of 2023, but still higher than before Brexit.
The kicker is that it’s being driven by reforms brought in under the last Conservative government.
Labour didn’t oppose those changes and have gone further while in office, but it’s debatable how much credit they can claim for the falls.
Such significant changes may also set alarm bells off in care homes and universities β two sectors that will have to adjust to the new migration reality being forced on them.
