Sir Keir Starmer could end the use of controversial migrant hotels within the next six months if he offered a blanket amnesty to asylum seekers from a handful of countries, it has been claimed. The Refugee Council says ministers would be able to stop relying on the hotels by March next year by offering a one-off temporary reprieve for thousands of migrants from nations with high grant rates, such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iran.
Home Office figures show asylum applications from Sudan have a 94 per cent approval rate, while grant rates for Syrians have been as high as 98 per cent in recent years. Yet thousands from these countries are put in hotels for months on end, unable to work or study, while their applications are reviewed. Labour has vowed to end reliance on hotels by 2029, but has been under pressure to close them earlier after a string of anti-migrant protests across the country.
The Refugee Council said such a move would follow the footsteps of the 1997 Labour government, which between 1999 and 2000 allowed nearly 30,000 grants of exceptional leave as part of a plan to deal with a growing backlog of asylum claims. However, Jack Straw, who was home secretary at the time, told The Independent that he regretted the amnesty “as soon as I had taken the decision”. “Although it did indeed ‘clear the backlog’, it acted as a pull factor”, he said.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, added that the proposals “amount to waving through tens of thousands of asylum seekers without properly testing their claims, rewarding those who came illegally”. But independent MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told The Independent: “This is a constructive and practical policy responding to the appalling xenophobia promoted by Reform. The asylum seekers I have had experience of over the last decades don’t want to be trapped in hotels, they want to join our communities and make their contribution to our society and our economy.”
However, with Labour panicking over the threat from Nigel Farage, some senior figures in the party said that the Refugee Council proposals could not work in the prevailing political circumstances. Speaking to The Independent, Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, warned: “It’s a non-starter in the current climate.” Meanwhile, Ben Maguire, Lib Dem shadow attorney general, said Labour should speed up asylum processing, adding: “Ministers should look seriously at ideas like these to make it happen.”
According to analysis of Home Office data by the Refugee Council, four in 10 of those housed in hotels are from either Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan or Syria. As of June 2025, there were 32,059 asylum seekers in UK hotels. Housing asylum seekers in hotels costs around £5.77m per day, down from £8.3m per day in 2024, according to the Home Office. If all were granted a temporary form of leave, allowing them to live and work in the UK, ministers could end the use of hotels entirely, the charity said.
