Kemi Badenoch has slammed Keir Starmer's record on immigration (Image: PA)
Labour’s ￡4.7billion asylum crisis has led to a record number of protection claims, more people in hotels and fewer Channel migrant deportations, shocking figures revealed. The number of people claiming asylum hit 111,084 during Sir Keir Starmer's first year in office.
And Home Office records revealed the number of Channel migrants being deported has fallen under Labour. More asylum seekers are also living in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms, with 32,059 migrants in hotels – up 8% compared to when Sir Keir Starmer’s Government came into office – after a surge in small boat arrivals.
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Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is a day of shame for the Labour Government. Their weakness has led to a complete collapse of border control.
"The public are sick of being let down by Labour and are at their wits end.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, writing for the Daily Express, declared: “Britain has become a magnet for illegal immigration and a playground for people smugglers.
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“The truth on asylum hotels is just as damning.
“Arrivals are up, asylum hotels are bursting, billions are being wasted, crime is climbing, and it's our local communities who are carrying the burden.
“Britain deserves a Government that will defend its borders and that requires decisive action.
“Keir Starmer has had a year in power. His shameful record is more small boats, more immigrants in hotels and fewer removals. He is weak and he is failing the British people.
“A Government that cannot stop the crossings, close the hotels, or deport illegal arrivals has forfeited the right to claim it is defending Britain.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “Under Labour we now have record numbers claiming asylum. The vast majority should never qualify and most will cost the taxpayer a huge sum of money.
"Our streets are becoming more dangerous yet this disaster gets worse.
"The public are right to be very angry with both Labour and the Tories for what they have done to us.”
Home Office figures – covering Labour’s first full year in office – show there are still 32,059 migrants living in hotels.
The Channel migrant crisis has exposed how porous Britain's borders are (Image: Getty)
This is up 8% from 29,585 in the year to June 2024.
It comes after a bombshell legal ruling threw Labour's asylum accommodation plans into disarray, with the future of hotels in doubt.
Ministers fear the High Court's decision to grant a temporary injunction to prevent migrants being housed in the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, will open the floodgates to similar legal battles and could lead to more closures.
And the Home Office figures revealed the staggering pressure the asylum system is under.
Some 111,084 people applied for protection in the year to June, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
This is up 14% from 97,107 in the year to June 2024 and nearly double the number in 2021.
The sharp increase was fuelled by a surge in migrants lodging claims after arriving on work and study visas and failed asylum seekers trying their luck after being rejected in Europe, experts said.
Home Office figures show 14,800 people claimed asylum after arriving on a student visa.
Another 12,200 arrived on a work visa, prompting more fears of widespread abuse.
Home Office sources have confirmed they have identified it as a “new route” into the UK and are scrambling to close the loophole.
The most common nationalities among asylum applicants in the year to June 2025 were Pakistani (10.1% of the total), Afghan (7.5%), Iranian (7.0%) and Eritrean (6.7%).
Shocking analysis revealed 90% of Pakistanis claimed asylum after travelling to the UK on a valid visa, while 87% of Bangladeshi applicants travelled to the UK legally.
A further 71% of Indian asylum applicants used a visa to travel to the UK, highlighting widespread fears over the abuse of the UK’s generosity.
By contrast, 84% of Afghans who claimed asylum arrived by a small boat. Some 89% of Eritrean applicants arrived the same way.
The asylum crisis cost taxpayers ￡4.76 billion a year in 2024/25, down from a record ￡5.38bn in 2023/24.
But the number of Channel migrants being deported under Labour is falling.
Some 2,330 people have been deported during Keir Starmer's first full year in office, compared to 2,516 in the final year of the Conservative Government.
In total, just 6,313 small boat migrants have been returned since the crisis began in 2018.
Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said: “Labour talk tough on smashing the gangs and stopping the boats, but the reality is returns are far too low and Starmer’s government is weakening the infrastructure needed.
“Slashing investment at Manston migrant processing centre from ￡2.7billion to under ￡1billion and delaying upgrades until 2029 leaves Britain without the detention and deportation capacity we desperately need. Without proper facilities, migrants can’t be detained and removed. That’s why returns are so abysmal on Labour’s watch.
“Instead of fixing the system, they are hollowing it out, leaving taxpayers footing the bill for hotels and communities paying the price.
“Unless Labour reverse course and invest in real deportation capacity, Britain will remain powerless to control its borders.”
Centre for Policy Studies Research Director Karl Williams added: “While the government might be tempted to highlight the fact that the number of migrants being returned to their home countries is increasing back towards pre-Covid levels, ultimately these numbers - 9,100 in the year to June 2025 - are a drop in the ocean.
“It is the Channel crossings - and the migrant hotels - which worry the British public the most.
“So far Channel crossings have averaged 124 migrants per day under the current government. Were this rate to continue, around 230,000 migrants could arrive in small boats during this Parliament.”
And the spiralling asylum appeals backlog will prevent Labour from closing asylum hotels, academics said.
Some 51,000 appeals are waiting to be heard.
But, in a glimmer of good news, the backlog of people waiting for an initial decision on their claims dropped to 90,812 at the end of June.
This is down 17% from 109,536 at the end of March and down 24% from 118,882 a year earlier at the end of June 2024.
The total peaked at 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
Dr Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory, said: “Reducing the backlog in processing asylum claims is critical to any plan to reduce the use of contingency accommodation like hotels.
“Although the initial decision backlog is down since Labour came to office, a new backlog has built up in the courts due to appeals against unsuccessful decisions.
“There are several potential explanations for recent increases in asylum applications, although there isn’t enough evidence to be sure which have been most important.
“They include the intensification of smuggling activity (especially across the Channel), larger numbers of people claiming asylum after arriving on visas, a larger number of pending and recently refused asylum seekers in Europe.
“It is hard to know to what extent the repeal of the previous government’s asylum policies has contributed, not least because those policies were never fully implemented and their impact was unclear.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous Government left in chaos.
“Since coming to office we have strengthened Britain’s visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns, as today’s figures show.
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“The action we have taken in the last 12 months - increasing returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30%, cutting asylum costs by 11%, reducing the backlog by 18% and our forthcoming plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system - are crucial steps to restoring order, and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government.
“At the same time, we are bringing legal migration back under control, with a 48% reduction in work visas this year - and further stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our White Paper expected to bring those overall numbers down further.
“As we roll out further reforms, including the new pilot with France, new counter terror powers to strengthen border security, and new asylum reforms later this year (including reforms to speed up the persistent delays in the appeals system), we will continue to take the serious steps required to restore order, control and fairness to the system and to continue building the foundations of a new and stronger approach.”
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