Labour breaks election promise as 32,345 asylum seekers remain in luxury accommodation – UP 9% since Starmer took power – while claiming £1bn savings that won’t materialize for YEARS
Rachel Reeves has sensationally admitted that taxpayer-funded migrant hotels will remain open until 2029 – a full FIVE YEARS after Labour promised to end the controversial practice and “save billions” for hard-pressed Britons.
In an extraordinary climbdown during today’s spending review, the Chancellor revealed the government will continue housing asylum seekers in hotels at a staggering cost of £145 per night per person – while ordinary families struggle with the cost of living crisis.
The bombshell admission comes despite Labour’s election manifesto pledge to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions” – a promise that helped sweep them to power just months ago.
Even more damaging, official figures show the number of asylum seekers in hotels has actually INCREASED by 9% since Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street, with 32,345 now living in taxpayer-funded accommodation compared to 29,585 when Labour took office.
THE £3 BILLION BETRAYAL
The true scale of Labour’s failure is laid bare in the numbers:
- £145 per night to house each asylum seeker in hotels
- £3.1 billion spent on asylum hotels in 2023/24 alone
- 32,345 asylum seekers currently in hotels – UP from 29,585
- 216 hotels being used – UP from 213 when Labour took power
- £41,000 annual cost per asylum seeker – UP from £17,000 five years ago
- 2029 – the earliest hotels will close, if at all
Meanwhile, “dispersal accommodation” including houses and flats costs just £14 per night – more than TEN TIMES cheaper than hotels.
REEVES’ HUMILIATING ADMISSION
Standing at the dispatch box, Reeves tried to blame the Conservatives for the crisis while admitting her own government’s failure:
The party opposite left behind a broken system: billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money spent on housing asylum seekers in hotels leaving people in limbo and shunting the cost of failure on to local communities. We won’t let that stand.”
But in the same breath, she confirmed hotels would remain open until “the end of this parliament” – due to finish in 2029.
The Chancellor claimed her spending review would save £1 billion a year by tackling the asylum backlog and returning failed applicants – but crucially failed to explain how or when these mythical savings would materialize.
BROKEN PROMISES MOUNT
Labour’s asylum hotel betrayal represents just the latest in a string of broken promises:
ELECTION PLEDGE: “End asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions” REALITY: Hotels increased from 213 to 216, with more asylum seekers than ever
KEIR’S PROMISE: Hotels would close “as fast as possible” REALITY: Won’t close until 2029 at the earliest – five years away
CLAIMED SAVINGS: £7 billion over 10 years REALITY: Costs continue to spiral with no end in sight
PROFITEERING SCANDAL
While taxpayers foot the bill, private contractors are making “record profits” from the crisis:
- Serco, Clearsprings Ready Homes and Mears hold lucrative long-term contracts
- Costs have more than DOUBLED from £17,000 to £41,000 per asylum seeker
- Contractors accused of “profiteering” from hastily expanded COVID-era deals
- Despite profit caps of £12 per head, sheer volume creates massive windfalls
Treasury documents reveal these contracts were “not designed for this level of spend” but have been allowed to balloon unchecked.
THE REAL NUMBERS
Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft has admitted the department’s “overarching aim” is merely to “exit hotels by the end of the Parliament” – potentially as late as August 2029.
This means British taxpayers face:
- Another 4+ years of billion-pound hotel bills
- £12-15 billion in total costs before any closure
- Continued strain on local communities
- No guarantee hotels will ever actually close
LABOUR’S EXCUSE
The government claims it needs to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029 before it can move asylum seekers out of hotels – an admission that its immigration policy is now dictating housing policy for British families.
Officials cite “global instability” and housing shortages as reasons the arrangement must continue, despite Labour attacking the very same policies when in opposition.
‘GLOBAL INSTABILITY’ BLAME GAME
Treasury papers from the Office for Value for Money warn that “global instability” means hotels will remain open indefinitely, effectively admitting the government has lost control of Britain’s borders.
The admission exposes Labour’s pre-election attacks on Conservative asylum policies as pure political opportunism, with no real plan to address the crisis.
OPPOSITION FURY
Critics have slammed the Chancellor’s admission as proof Labour misled voters:
Labour promised to end asylum hotels and save billions. Instead, they’ve increased both the number of hotels and the number of people in them. British taxpayers are being taken for fools while their money funds this shameful betrayal,” one Conservative MP said.
Reform UK added: “£145 a night for asylum seekers while British families can’t afford to heat their homes. This government’s priorities are completely wrong.”
THE BITTER TRUTH
As Reeves delivered her spending review promising billions for various departments, the elephant in the room remained: British taxpayers will continue funding hotel accommodation for asylum seekers at eye-watering rates for at least another four years.
The promise to save “billions” by ending asylum hotels has been exposed as nothing more than an election lie – with working families left to pick up the tab while the government kicks the can down the road to 2029.
For the 32,345 asylum seekers currently enjoying hotel accommodation at taxpayer expense, life continues as normal. For the British public who believed Labour’s promises, it’s yet another bitter betrayal from a government that seems incapable of delivering on its most basic commitments.
Image credit:
The Chancellor delivers the Autumn Budget 2024 by HM Treasury, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
