Housing Migrants In UK Costs Taxpayers £8 Million Everyday

According to new figures from the Home Office, the cost of housing migrants in hotels across the UK has hit a record level high.

In another step towards Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's "stop the boats" campaign, the government have promised to "reduce" the number of hotels that are used to house asylum seekers and people who have arrived in the UK via the English Channel.

On Tuesday 24 October, the Home Office published its Annual Accounts and pledged to "take action to address the unacceptable costs of housing migrants in hotels which is costing the taxpayer around £8m a day".

While the government have a legal obligation to house asylum seekers, who are unable to work until their status is granted or denied, a spokesperson for the Conservative government said that the increasing figures are "why we've got to get migrants out of hotels and stop the boats".

An investigation into the cost of migrant housing in the UK found that around 400 hotels were being used to house displaced individuals.

The investigation, which was conducted in March this year, found that the 400 hotels, cost almost £7 million each day.

While Sunak celebrates his one-year anniversary as prime minister, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, slammed the Tories for "busting the Home Office budget" and "breaking the asylum system".

Cooper also declared that as a result of Sunak's failed "stop the boats" campaign, "the British people are paying the price".

"Shockingly, the cost of hotel accommodation has gone up by a third since Rishi Sunak promised to end hotel use," she added.

Asylum seekers and undocumented persons have been held in UK hotels for years, instead of weeks, due to the huge backlog of unprocessed applications.

According to the leading charity Refugee Council, asylum seekers "make up a tiny proportion of new arrivals in Britain".

The charity also noted that there were "78,768 asylum applications (relating to 97,390 people) in the UK in the year ending June 2023, a 19 per cent increase from the previous 12 months".

However, in 2022, the number of people arriving in the UK in small boats via the English Channel hit over 45,000. In 2023, the number of people entering the UK illegally, stands at around 21,000.

Although the Rwanda bill, which would see undocumented asylum seekers and refugees deported to Rwanda, was ruled "unlawful" by the Court of Appeal, the government controversially pushed for the scheme again.

This month, the government argued for the bill at the Supreme Court.

Despite data showing that it would cost more than £160,000 to deport just one person to Rwanda, a government spokesperson urged: "We're confident our Rwanda scheme, which is awaiting a judgment from the Supreme Court, will break the people smugglers' business model."

In a bid to win votes at the upcoming general election, Sir Keir Starmer argued against Sunak's campaign against migrants and suggested that a Labour government would be willing to welcome migrants in the UK in exchange for a returns deal.

The returns deal would be put in place to deport migrants who have arrived in the UK illegally and to crack down on international people smuggling gangs – according to Starmer.

On Tuesday, the government also announced that it had ordered thousands of families from Afghanistan, who each had their refugee status granted, to leave their hotel accommodation.

The families had reportedly arrived in the UK under the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme, which was set up after the Taliban reclaimed power in 2021.

Cabinet Office Minister Johnny Mercer confirmed that 85 per cent of the 8,000 Afghans who were living in hotels, had now been moved into homes or pre-matched into settled accommodation.

In response to the government forcing Afghan refugees to relocate, Labour Shadow Minister Luke Pollard called the act "shameful" and recognised that it is "nothing to smile about".