The Home Office is looking for even more hotel spaces to house illegal migrants after a recent surge in small boat Channel crossings, sources have confirmed.
Just four days ago, GB News exclusively revealed how an average of 135 small boat migrants had crossed over into the UK on each of Labour's first 100 days in office.
That followed the news at the start of this month that across 250 British hotels, some 30,000 migrants are being put up at Britons' expense - to the tune of £4.2million every day.
Despite their pledge to clear an "asylum backlog", Labour has pledged to "restore order to the system" - and the Home Office has said the same again today.
Yvette Cooper's Home Office has declined to comment on whether it is looking for even more hotels
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A department spokesman said on Wednesday that "the Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly.
He continued: "We are committed to speeding up the asylum process and have taken urgent action to restart processing and clear the backlog, which will save an estimated £7billion for the taxpayer over the next ten years.
"The Government has begun delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK and ensure the rules are respected and enforced."
When pressed on reports that it was seeking fresh hotel space for the thousands of illegal migrants, the Home Office refused to comment.
But then, sources confirmed to GB News that the department was indeed looking for more spaces up and down the country.
LATEST ON BRITAIN'S MIGRANT CRISIS:
- The PROOF that Labour doesn't REALLY believe it can stop the boats
- Labour’s border crisis: Around 135 migrants flooding in daily on small boats under Starmer’s first 100 Days as total for year soars to 27,000
- ‘Would you feel safe living next door to this man?’ Nigel Farage despairs as gun-wielding migrant prepares to cross Channel: ‘Here by the weekend!’
Tens of thousands of migrants are being put up in taxpayer-funded hotels across Britain
PA
The hotels' cost to British taxpayers is understood to fall at around £4.2million every day
PA
The hotels - some of which leave their new residents "feeling like kings" - have sparked concern in the past, with then-Tory MP Jonathan Gullis warning GB News that terror groups viewed some as "recruiting grounds".
And today's news immediately attracted ire from Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet, who told GB News the department's silence earlier today was "no surprise".
He told The People's Channel: "Labour have now learned two things: That the flow of illegal immigration, including small boats, will go on getting worse - and that their plans stand no chance of working.
"In fact, their threats to smash the gangs has probably encouraged the traffickers, because they know that the new Government is clueless about how to tackle the problem - ours, not the traffickers'."
On average, 135 small boat migrants crossed over into the UK on each of Labour's first 100 days in office
PA
Labour's own manifesto had vowed to "end asylum hotels" altogether - but since coming to power, Cooper and other ministers have realised that slashing the backlog will take much longer than previously thought, The Times reported.
In response, Labour blamed its predecessors, with one party source telling GB News: "We have inherited a completely failed immigration system from the Tories, including spending over £700million on Rwanda, and gimmicks that didn't work.
"We're working on clearing down the backlog they left behind after years of just doing nothing."
