High numbers of asylum seekers are an international challenge. Numbers per head of population are significantly higher in France, Germany and Italy.
That is not an excuse, but relevant context to explain why this challenge-reducing the numbers-is a difficult one. It would be for any Government elected in the UK. Whatever the snake oil salesmen from Reform falsely claim.
The most visible sign of high asylum numbers has become hotels used to house asylum seekers. I get why people are concerned about this.
It’s a very visible sign of high asylum numbers, and by housing large numbers of asylum seekers together, there are problems of integration.
Labour came to power with a manifesto commitment to end the use of Asylum hotels. It was a commitment to that by the end of this parliament.
The Government should have been much clearer from the start that this was a commitment to deliver over five years.
The lack of clear and consistent communications has been one of the failings of this Government. It has improved, but needs to improve further.
In the recent spending review, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves put flesh on the bones of the commitment to end hotel use, by baking in a £1billion Home Office saving by 2029.
To be achieved by ending hotel use. The Government will end the use of hotels by reducing boat crossings, speeding up processing of asylum claims (already up 52 per cent since the election) to eliminate the backlog, and by pursuing alternative, cheaper (than hotels) accommodation.
Labour needs to be honest about what happens to these migrants when hotels are closed down - Bill Rammell
Getty Images
The reduction in boat crossings should become visible in the next six to nine months as the change in legal practice by the French police to intervene in shallow waters against the boats and those crossing in them kicks in, as is planned to happen in the next few weeks.
And once the legal changes in the Asylum Bill complete Commons and Lords approval. These changes will help deter those who cross the channel and particularly disrupt the gangs which organise the boats.
Police believe these changes will make a real difference in tackling the boats. But it takes time to pass the legislation. That is a blunt fact of life.
The Government should have been much clearer in communicating that this would take time before we started to see a reduction in numbers.
Ending hotel use will also require the use of alternative accommodations to hotels. Like the former RAF base in Wethersfield and the former student digs in Huddersfield.
It will also mean the use of the private rented sector, which has the advantage of dispersal of numbers. Each of these solutions will be significantly cheaper than using hotels.
But the real solution is to significantly reduce asylum numbers. Through effective and rigorous actions, not grandstanding or making undeliverable promises as the Tories and Reform do, the last Labour Government reduced
Asylum numbers rose from 84,000 in 2002 to less than 18,000 by the time Labour left office. It was the last Tory Government that got the numbers back up to over 100,000.
The last Labour Government delivered on reducing the number of asylum seekers. So, in time, can this one. But it needs to get much better at explaining how it is doing it and the realistic time scales involved.
Most Read
