Minister Admits Asylum Hotels 'Spiralled Out of Control' as More Closures Announced
The government has confirmed the closure of eleven additional hotels used to house asylum seekers, as part of an ongoing programme to relocate individuals to alternative accommodation. This latest move, announced on Tuesday evening, is projected to save taxpayers £65 million per year and reduces the total number of hotels utilised for asylum accommodation to below 190. This marks a significant reduction from the peak of approximately 400 hotels during the previous Conservative administration.
Specific Sites and Public Protests
The closures include sites that have previously drawn public protests and local opposition, such as the Britannia Hotel in Wolverhampton and the OYO Lakeside in St Helens. Borders minister Alex Norris stated that hotels were originally intended as a temporary solution but had escalated uncontrollably, costing billions and impacting communities. He emphasised that the government is shutting them down by moving people into more basic accommodation, scaling up large sites, and removing record numbers of individuals with no right to remain in the UK.
Government Strategy and Future Plans
Ministers have pledged to completely end the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the next general election. Some individuals are already being transferred to alternative sites, including disused army barracks. For instance, Home Office officials reported that around 350 people have now been moved into the former barracks at Crowborough in East Sussex, which opened to asylum seekers in January. The Home Office has indicated that further closures will be announced soon, as part of efforts to restore control and reduce waste.
Current Statistics and Trends
According to recent figures, the number of people housed in hotels stood at 30,657 at the end of 2025. This represents a 15% decrease from September 2025 but remains above the record low of 29,561 just before the 2024 general election. The peak was recorded in September 2023, with 56,018 individuals in hotel accommodation. Concurrently, the number of people in dispersal accommodation, which includes privately managed houses, flats, or rooms in properties of multiple occupancy, rose by almost 3,000 over 2025. This type of accommodation is only available to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
Political Criticism and Opposition Response
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised the government's approach, arguing that the most recent data shows more asylum seekers in hotels than at the time of the election. He accused Labour of hiding the true scale by moving people from hotels into residential apartments, which then become unavailable for young people struggling to enter the housing market. Philp claimed that most asylum seekers are illegal immigrants and highlighted that small boat arrivals have increased by 45% since the election. He contrasted the Conservative plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to enable faster deportations with what he described as Labour's weakness on immigration control.
The ongoing closures and relocations reflect a broader effort to manage asylum accommodation more efficiently, though political debates continue over the effectiveness and implications of these policies for local communities and national immigration strategy.
