Migrants stuck in hotels for three more years due to delays, a major setback for Starmer

The number of people waiting for their first decision on asylum applications has slightly increased since Labour took office, new reports show.

Migrants might have to stay in hotels for up to three more years due to the delay in processing asylum cases, according to an insider, which is a big setback for Sir Keir Starmer’s new government.

Since the election, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and other ministers have realized that clearing the backlog will take longer than expected, as reported by the Times. In fact, the number of people waiting for their first decision has gone up a little in the three months since the election.

Labour had promised to fix the problem and “end asylum hotels,” but a government source said the situation is “much worse than we thought.”

They added: “It’s going to take a lot longer to sort out than we expected. It definitely won’t be fixed within a year.”

A Labour representative blamed the previous government, saying: “We’ve inherited a completely failed immigration system from the Tories, including spending over £700 million on ineffective plans like the Rwanda scheme. We’re working on clearing the backlog they left behind – they clearly did nothing in the months before the election.

“The numbers speak for themselves.”

Home Office data from August showed that 118,882 people were waiting for a first decision on an asylum application by the end of June 2024.

This is a 32 percent drop from 175,457 at the end of June 2023, which was the highest number since records began in 2010. However, the latest figures show a small rise from 118,329 at the end of March, showing a slight increase over the last three months.

Earlier this month, Ms. Cooper said the Government is making progress on reducing the asylum backlog and deporting those who have no right to stay in the UK, “so we can end these expensive asylum hotels.”

Labour’s election manifesto had promised to “restore order to the asylum system so it works quickly, firmly, and fairly.”

It also stated: “We will hire more caseworkers to clear the Conservatives’ backlog and end asylum hotels, saving taxpayers billions of pounds.”