Yvette Cooper is under intense pressure over the migrant crisis (Image: Getty)
Migrant hotels must be closed in a “properly managed way” rather than through “piecemeal court decisions”, Yvette Cooper has insisted.
The Home Secretary said the Home Office’s controversial decision to fight the closure of The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, would prevent chaos elsewhere in the asylum system.
Article continues belowADVERTISEMENT
DON'T MISS
Powered by
Home Office launches appeal after High Court blocks migrant hotels in huge betrayal
Yvette Cooper given radical plan to end migrant crisis - 'deport every illegal arrival'
Nigel Farage rages 'whose side are you on?' after Labour's migrant hotel legal bid
Labour pledge in ruins as even more migrants put in hotels
Labour MPs back Rwanda-style migrant plan and urge Keir Starmer to copy Trump
Huge blow to Keir Starmer as councils given fresh boost in fight to shut migrant hotels
Major update in Bell Hotel's appeal against ban on housing migrants
The Labour-run UK town where residents are totally fed up of migrant hotels
Migrants should be housed in camps to end hotel farce, Yvette Cooper told
The Prime Minister's about to get a taste of his own medicine amid asylum backlash
Labour minister reveals bonkers plan to put asylum seekers in student halls
Nigel Farage reveals 'national emergency' mass deportation blueprint for UK
Key Keir Starmer blunder is hurting Britain's bid to stop the boats, Tory MP says
Labour sparks fury over appeal against Epping migrant hotel ruling: 'Sick joke!'
Labour minister refuses to rule out moving Epping asylum seekers to new hotel
Migrant hotels to be replaced by disused tower blocks and former student halls
Keir Starmer's asylum nightmare intensifies as Labour councils consider legal action
Labour slammed as 'comfort of migrants put over safety of women'
POLL: Who do you trust most on immigration?
Council that shut migrant hotel says more legal challenges likely
Home Office launches appeal after High Court blocks migrant hotels in huge betrayal
Yvette Cooper given radical plan to end migrant crisis - 'deport every illegal arrival'
Nigel Farage rages 'whose side are you on?' after Labour's migrant hotel legal bid
Labour pledge in ruins as even more migrants put in hotels
Labour MPs back Rwanda-style migrant plan and urge Keir Starmer to copy Trump
Huge blow to Keir Starmer as councils given fresh boost in fight to shut migrant hotels
Major update in Bell Hotel's appeal against ban on housing migrants
The Labour-run UK town where residents are totally fed up of migrant hotels
Migrants should be housed in camps to end hotel farce, Yvette Cooper told
The Prime Minister's about to get a taste of his own medicine amid asylum backlash
Labour minister reveals bonkers plan to put asylum seekers in student halls
Nigel Farage reveals 'national emergency' mass deportation blueprint for UK
Key Keir Starmer blunder is hurting Britain's bid to stop the boats, Tory MP says
Labour sparks fury over appeal against Epping migrant hotel ruling: 'Sick joke!'
Labour minister refuses to rule out moving Epping asylum seekers to new hotel
Migrant hotels to be replaced by disused tower blocks and former student halls
Keir Starmer's asylum nightmare intensifies as Labour councils consider legal action
Labour slammed as 'comfort of migrants put over safety of women'
POLL: Who do you trust most on immigration?
Council that shut migrant hotel says more legal challenges likely
Home Office launches appeal after High Court blocks migrant hotels in huge betrayal
Yvette Cooper given radical plan to end migrant crisis - 'deport every illegal arrival'
Nigel Farage rages 'whose side are you on?' after Labour's migrant hotel legal bid
Labour pledge in ruins as even more migrants put in hotels
Labour MPs back Rwanda-style migrant plan and urge Keir Starmer to copy Trump
Huge blow to Keir Starmer as councils given fresh boost in fight to shut migrant hotels
Major update in Bell Hotel's appeal against ban on housing migrants
The Labour-run UK town where residents are totally fed up of migrant hotels
Migrants should be housed in camps to end hotel farce, Yvette Cooper told
The Prime Minister's about to get a taste of his own medicine amid asylum backlash
Labour minister reveals bonkers plan to put asylum seekers in student halls
Nigel Farage reveals 'national emergency' mass deportation blueprint for UK
Key Keir Starmer blunder is hurting Britain's bid to stop the boats, Tory MP says
Labour sparks fury over appeal against Epping migrant hotel ruling: 'Sick joke!'
Labour minister refuses to rule out moving Epping asylum seekers to new hotel
Migrant hotels to be replaced by disused tower blocks and former student halls
Keir Starmer's asylum nightmare intensifies as Labour councils consider legal action
Labour slammed as 'comfort of migrants put over safety of women'
POLL: Who do you trust most on immigration?
Council that shut migrant hotel says more legal challenges likely
Judge Mr Justice Eyre granted a temporary injunction preventing asylum seekers from being housed in the hotel in Epping because it did not have planning permission.
Community leaders and politicians declared Tuesday’s bombshell legal ruling a “victory for the mums and dads”.
Powered By
10 Sec
GB News host admits she is 'emotional' after goodbye messages
Next
Stay
Read more: Labour sparks fury over appeal against migrant hotel ruling - 'Sick joke'
Read more: Home Office launches appeal after court blocks migrant hotels in huge betrayal
Asylum hotels must be closed in an orderly way, Yvette Cooper insists (Image: Getty)
Ms Cooper said: “We agree with communities across the country that all asylum hotels need to close, including the Bell Hotel, and we are working to do so as swiftly as possible as part of an orderly, planned and sustained programme that avoids simply creating problems for other areas or local councils as a result of piecemeal court decisions or a return to the kind of chaos which led to so many hotels being opened in the first place.
Sponsored
Learn More
42-year-old woman changed drastically in a few months! "This" sold at Watsons is too effective
Undo
“That is the reason for the Home Office appeal in this case, to ensure that going forward, the closure of all hotels can be done in a properly managed way right across the country without creating problems for other areas and local councils.
“What we cannot have is a replica of the chaotic and disorderly situation that we saw under the previous government in 2022, when 140 extra hotels were opened in the space of six months because they lost control of the system.
“The previous government which caused that chaos is now trying to pretend that their time in office didn’t happen, and are simply trying to make the situation worse.
“While they play politics with this issue, we will get on with the job of sorting out the mess that they left behind, closing every one of the hotels that they opened, and doing so in a controlled and managed way.”
The High Court ruling threw Labour’s asylum accommodation plans into turmoil by putting the future of more than 200 hotels at risk. Councils across the country are plotting similar legal bids to close migrant hotels.
The Home Office had warned the High Court that a temporary injunction could have a devastating impact on its asylum accommodation plans. Barristers, acting on behalf of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, warned of a surge of “similar applications made elsewhere that would then aggravate pressures on the asylum estate”.
Injunction applications could become a “new norm adopted by local authorities”, they added.
The Home Office lawyers also suggested that granting the injunction “runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests”.
Ms Cooper added: “This government inherited an asylum system in chaos, with decision-making at a standstill, the backlog soaring, and tens of thousands of asylum seekers staying in expensive asylum hotels with no prospect of their case being resolved.
“As set out in our manifesto, this Government will end asylum hotels and bring the number of people in the asylum accommodation system right back down.
“We have already taken immediate action to start fixing the broken system we inherited, doubling the rate of asylum decision-making, increasing the removal of failed asylum-seekers by almost 30 per cent, and taking action to prevent overseas workers and students claiming UK asylum when their visas expire.
“The number of asylum hotels is now around half what it was at its peak under the previous government, when more than 400 hotels were in use at a cost of almost ￡9 million per day. Over the course of 2024/25, we reduced the cost of asylum hotels by almost a billion pounds compared to the previous financial year.
“But we have committed to go much further to reduce those costs, and to end the use of asylum hotels entirely.
“In recent months, we have set out plans to deliver that commitment, including reducing the number of people entering the system, increasing and speeding up the returns of failed asylum-seekers, overhauling the broken appeals system we inherited so that failed asylum seekers do not stay in the system for years, and putting in place more appropriate accommodation for those who genuinely need it.”
Home Office figures – covering Labour’s first full year in office – show there are still 32,059 migrants living in hotels. This is up 8% from 29,585 in the year to June 2024. 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 per cent from 97,107 in the year to June 2024 and nearly double the number in 2021.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said of Keir Starmer's first year in Goverment: “Britain has become a magnet for illegal immigration and a playground for people smugglers. 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.”
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.
DON'T MISS
Powered by
Major update in Bell Hotel's appeal against ban on housing migrants
The Labour-run UK town where residents are totally fed up of migrant hotels
Migrants should be housed in camps to end hotel farce, Yvette Cooper told
The Prime Minister's about to get a taste of his own medicine amid asylum backlash
Labour minister reveals bonkers plan to put asylum seekers in student halls
Nigel Farage reveals 'national emergency' mass deportation blueprint for UK
Key Keir Starmer blunder is hurting Britain's bid to stop the boats, Tory MP says
Labour sparks fury over appeal against Epping migrant hotel ruling: 'Sick joke!'
Labour minister refuses to rule out moving Epping asylum seekers to new hotel
Migrant hotels to be replaced by disused tower blocks and former student halls
Keir Starmer's asylum nightmare intensifies as Labour councils consider legal action
Labour slammed as 'comfort of migrants put over safety of women'
POLL: Who do you trust most on immigration?
Council that shut migrant hotel says more legal challenges likely
Undo
Home Office launches appeal after High Court blocks migrant hotels in huge betrayal
Yvette Cooper given radical plan to end migrant crisis - 'deport every illegal arrival'
Drone Captures Something No Human Is Supposed To SeeFitDib |
Undo
Nigel Farage rages 'whose side are you on?' after Labour's migrant hotel legal bid
Labour pledge in ruins as even more migrants put in hotels
Me & My Money: Years of savings took just months to deplete for entrepreneurThe Straits Times |
Undo
Labour MPs back Rwanda-style migrant plan and urge Keir Starmer to copy Trump
Huge blow to Keir Starmer as councils given fresh boost in fight to shut migrant hotels
askST Jobs: How to deal with the dread of returning to work after a holiday?The Straits Times |
Undo
Major update in Bell Hotel's appeal against ban on housing migrants
The Labour-run UK town where residents are totally fed up of migrant hotels
No more thinning hair! This bestseller at Watsons works even in 40s-60sHair’s Rich |
Learn More
Undo
Migrants should be housed in camps to end hotel farce, Yvette Cooper told
The Prime Minister's about to get a taste of his own medicine amid asylum backlash
Richard Mille RM 30-01: A Bold Tribute to Le Mans ClassicPrestigeonline.com |
Learn More
Undo
Labour minister reveals bonkers plan to put asylum seekers in student halls
Nigel Farage reveals 'national emergency' mass deportation blueprint for UK
Enjoy up to 8% cashback on dining, shopping and entertainment, and Luggage with S$100 cashbackHSBC |
Apply Now
Undo
Key Keir Starmer blunder is hurting Britain's bid to stop the boats, Tory MP says
Labour sparks fury over appeal against Epping migrant hotel ruling: 'Sick joke!'
Welcome Gift Worth up to S$780HSBC |
Apply Now
Undo
Labour minister refuses to rule out moving Epping asylum seekers to new hotel
Migrant hotels to be replaced by disused tower blocks and former student halls
消息：GIC正考虑投资澳洲嘉民集团旗下数据中心《联合早报》 |
Undo
Keir Starmer's asylum nightmare intensifies as Labour councils consider legal action
Labour slammed as 'comfort of migrants put over safety of women'
This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 YearsIC Markets |
Learn More
POLL: Who do you trust most on immigration?
Council that shut migrant hotel says more legal challenges likely
Home Office launches appeal after High Court blocks migrant hotels in huge betrayal
Yvette Cooper given radical plan to end migrant crisis - 'deport every illegal arrival'
Nigel Farage rages 'whose side are you on?' after Labour's migrant hotel legal bid
Labour pledge in ruins as even more migrants put in hotels
Labour MPs back Rwanda-style migrant plan and urge Keir Starmer to copy Trump
Huge blow to Keir Starmer as councils given fresh boost in fight to shut migrant hotels
Major update in Bell Hotel's appeal against ban on housing migrants
The Labour-run UK town where residents are totally fed up of migrant hotels
Migrants should be housed in camps to end hotel farce, Yvette Cooper told
The Prime Minister's about to get a taste of his own medicine amid asylum backlash
Labour minister reveals bonkers plan to put asylum seekers in student halls
Nigel Farage reveals 'national emergency' mass deportation blueprint for UK
Key Keir Starmer blunder is hurting Britain's bid to stop the boats, Tory MP says
How to Trade ETH/USD Without Holding EtherIC Markets
Sponsored LinksSponsored Links
Elephant Digs A Huge Hole For 11 Hours And Sees What Comes Out Of ItReportingly
Sponsored LinksSponsored Links
15 most beautiful women in the worldTopgentlemen.com
Sponsored LinksSponsored Links
Singapore: Meal Delivery for Seniors - Prices May Surprise YouMeal Delivery | Search Ads
Sponsored LinksSponsored Links
“Slashing investment at Manston migrant processing centre from ￡2.7 billion to under ￡1 billion 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.”
Read Next
SUBSCRIBEInvalid email
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy