On becoming prime minister in July, Keir Starmer scrapped the previous Conservative Government’s controversial scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda.
Instead, he vowed to “smash the gangs” of people smugglers who are behind the English Channel migrant crossings.
He also vowed in Labour’s manifesto to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds.”
Although the party did not set a timeframe for closing hotels, Home Office officials had been expected to close the last hotel within a year.
Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge at Portland Port in Dorset attracted controversy
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But, only a few months into his leadership, three surprising figures cast doubt over Starmer’s immigration goals.
£4.2 million per day – cost of migrant hotels
First, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is said to have conceded privately that it will take significantly longer than first anticipated to shut down temporary accommodation housing asylum seekers.
Migrants could continue to be housed in hotels for up to three years because the asylum backlog is taking longer to deal with than Labour expected.
There are as many as 30,000 migrants living in more than 250 hotels at the cost of £4.2 million per day.
As of June, there were 29,585 migrants in hotels with a further 61,778 in dispersal accommodation, smaller private accommodation and former university student halls scattered across the country.
This is down from a peak of 56,042 in 398 hotels in September last year, which was costing over £8 million per day.
Yvette Cooper says the Home Office will clear a backlog of over 87,000 awaiting decisions within 12 to 18 months by improving the rate of decision-makingPACooper is confident the Home Office will clear a backlog of 87,217 claims awaiting decisions within 12 to 18 months by improving the rate of decision-making.
But there are an additional 137,525 waiting for the outcome of appeals or where people are pending removal from the UK which is out of the Home Office’s control.
224,742 – asylum backlog
These numbers are causing a block to clear the overall asylum backlog of 224,742. That’s about the population of Doncaster and Chelmsford combined.
During the election campaign, Starmer vowed to stop the process claiming: “If we carry on with this government, we would have the best part of 100,000 asylum seekers in this country, none of whom are being processed.
“That means none of them can be returned, because until you’re processed, you can’t be returned, even if you’ve got no right to be here, being housed in hotels at the taxpayer’s expense. I don’t think that’s right and yes we want to turn that around.”
More than 25,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year
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But a Whitehall source said the backlog inherited from the Conservative government was “much worse than we thought.”
The source added: “It’s going to take a lot longer to clear than we anticipated. It certainly won’t be cleated in a year.”
Finally, Starmer’s problem is exacerbated by the continued arrival of small boats to the UK.
25,000 – migrants reaching UK in 2024
Over 25,000 migrants have reached the UK this year, and over 10,000 of these have arrived since Labour came into power on July 5.
This is 2 per cent higher than this time last year (24,830) but 24 per cent down on the same period in 2022 (33,029).
Starmer’s new border chief is understood to have told the prime minister that he needs to do more than wipe out organising smuggling networks trafficking people to Britain.
The new Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt warned that further deterrents are needed to stop illegal migration.