Sharp rise in asylum seeker hotel places sees bill soar to £10.5m a day

MORE asylum seekers are being housed in hotels after a record number of applications from people seeking refuge in the UK.

- By Jonathan Walker Whitehall editor

The total in expensive accommodation has risen to 38,079, Home Office figures showed.

And the hike comes despite Labour's general election promise to "end asylum hotels".

The daily bill is estimated to be around £10.5million a day by the Tories. In 2023, it was £8.3million.

The accommodation figure is up from 35,651 last September and 29,585 in June, before Labour came to power.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "Despite promising to end hotel usage for asylum seekers, the numbers have gone up again and they are costing Britons dear. Unchecked immigration, and waves of illegals crossing the Channel. The blame lies squarely at Labour's feet, who have been slow to act, and slower to care, about the crisis unfolding on our border."

But Labour insisted it had inherited a "broken" asylum system from the previous Government, and claimed it was deporting more people than ever before.

Britain's overburdened asylum system is struggling to cope after 108,138 people applied in 2024, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

It follows a 25% increase in cross-Channel arrivals, with the number coming to the UK in small boats surging to 37,000 in 2024.