Labour will break its manifesto pledge to end the scandal of asylum seekers living in expensive hotels after the Government admitted the practice will continue for years to come. Taxpayers currently pay £5.5million every day to house asylum seekers in hotels but a Treasury investigation claimed “global instability” will make it impossible to move them out.
The Treasury’s new Office for Value for Money looked for ways the Home Office could cut the billions spent on the immigration system but has now published a document saying it is not possible to close the hotels, The Times reports. It said illegal migrants would continue to come to the UK and would need temporary accommodation, especially as there were “other pressures on housing supply”.
It also warned that companies contracted to find hotels for migrants have “made record profits in recent years, leading to accusations of profiteering”.
Home Office signed 10-year contracts worth about £4.6billion with three private contractors in 2019. They are responsible for finding asylum accommodation.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged during last year’s General Election to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”. But in fact, the number in hotels has risen by 8,000 since the election.
A government spokesman said: “The cost to the taxpayer for short-term residential accommodation has skyrocketed, after the Government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain, with thousands stuck in a backlog without their claims processed.
“We are absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels, and since coming into government have taken immediate action to restart asylum processing to begin closing hotels, have surged the number of returns, removing more than 19,000 people with no right to be in the UK, and established the Border Security Command to dismantle the gangs driving this trade.
“The Office of Value for Money will work with departments, local government and the private sector to tackle these problems, ensuring a more strategic, co-ordinated approach that delivers better value for the taxpayer.”
More migrants have been brought ashore at Dover after crossing the English Channel in small boats over the weekend.
A total of 241 people made the crossing on Saturday, March 22 in four boats, according to the latest figures from the Home Office.
This brings the total this year up to March 22 to 5,512, according to analysis of the government figures.
It is higher than the 4,306 arrivals by the same date in 2024 and 3,683 in 2023. In 2022, 3,836 had crossed by March 22.
The highest number arriving in one day this year so far stands at 592 people, who crossed the Channel in 11 boats on March 2.
Among those brought ashore at Dover by a Border Force vessel on Sunday were men and women, all wearing life jackets and some wrapped in blankets in the rainy conditions.
The French coastguard confirmed two migrants died in two days trying to cross the Channel on Wednesday and Thursday.
One person died after being pulled from the water while the other person died after trying to cross in an overloaded boat, despite rescue efforts to save them.
The Government’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill also continues through Parliament, with plans to introduce new criminal offences and hand counter-terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies to crack down on people smuggling gangs.
