Number of migrants living in hotels has surged under Labour as spending hits £5billion a year

THE number of migrants living in hotels has surged since Labour came to power — as figures show ­£5.4billion a year is being spent on the UK’s asylum system.

Home Office data published yesterday revealed 35,651 asylum seekers are currently being housed in hotels across the country, up from 29,585 at the end of June.

A total of 220 sites are in use — costing £8.3million a day — with seven more opening in the past five months, despite Labour’s manifesto pledge to end their use.

Some 99,790 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to September, up slightly from 98,926 in the previous 12 months.

Migrants who arrived after ­crossing the Channel in small boats made up 28 per cent of the total number of people claiming asylum.

Returns of small boat migrants, who arrive illegally, have also fallen over the past year, despite Labour promising to ramp up deportations.

Only three per cent who came to Britain this way since 2018 have been returned.

Afghans and ­Vietnamese were the most common nationalities on small boats.

Spending on asylum — not including the small boats operation in the Channel — hit £5.38billion, up 36 per cent from the previous year.

That is the highest since comparable records began in 2010 and has climbed by nearly 12 times from a decade ago.

Average cost of housing one asylum seeker is £41,000 a year.

PM Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday the Government is “driving hard” to bring down the number of hotels being relied on to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

The Home Office has ramped up processing claims, with 1,000 staff moved to the returns department.

The PM said: “We must bring the cost of asylum down. We have a manifesto pledge to bring the number of hotels down, to end their use, which we are driving hard at.

“The way to do that is to increase the processing of claims. Among the reasons why so many people are in hotels is, for a long time, the claims weren’t being processed.

“We’ve returned 9,600 since the election and we have got more flights off in terms of the numbers on flights than has ever been done.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the hotel surge “another broken promise” by Labour.