Keir Starmer makes major asylum hotel vow as plan met with backlash

Keir Starmer has said he plans to speed up asylum hotel closures - insisting: "I want them emptied."

The Prime Minister revealed he wants to close them before his existing 2029 deadline, saying he understands public anger. It came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper suspended the UK's refugee family reunion scheme - a move which sparked an outcry among human rights groups.

In an interview with the BBC Mr Starmer lashed out at Reform leader Nigel Farage, who he accused of peddling "unworkable, fanciful ideas".

Pressed on his plans to close asylum hotels, the PM said: "Well, we've said we'll get rid of them by the end of the Parliament. I would like to bring that forward, I think it is a good challenge."

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Latest figures show there were over 32,000 asylum seekers being accommodated in hotels at the end of June - down from over 56,000 under the Tories. The Government is under growing pressure to close hotels, with a string of ugly clashes outside venues in recent weeks.

Mr Starmer said Reform, which has been vocal on migration, "feed on grievance" about migration, adding "they've got no reason to exist" if the problem is solved.

Last week, the Government successfully appealed for the Bell Hotel in Epping to continue housing asylum seekers, overturning a bombshell High Court order saying it must shut.

Ms Cooper said the estimated 200 hotels currently being used must not be closed "in a chaotic way". In an address to MPs, she announced those granted refugee status will no longer be able to apply to bring family members to the UK.

Last year there were over 21,000 such applications - up from 8,900 in 2022/23, with numbers expected to go up still further. Ms Cooper claimed some claims were being lodged before asylum seekers even leave Home Office accommodation.

She said that the first wave of small boat arrivals returned to France under a new 'one in, one out' deal reached over the summer will start this month.

Under the agreement - the first return deal with Europe since Brexit - people will be deported, with the same number of people who have a legitimate case to come to the UK arriving in their place.

Ms Cooper told the Commons: "We continue to believe that families staying together is important, and it's why we will seek to prioritise family groups among the applicants to come to Britain under our new deal with France. But reforms are needed."

She said the Home Office will look at introducing contribution requirements, longer periods before applications can be made and new arrangements for unaccompanied children.

But Mubeen Bhutta, director of policy at British Red Cross, said: “Today’s announcement will separate families and cut off one of the only safe and managed routes for children to seek protection. The vast majority of people who use family reunion visas are children and women – often trapped in very dangerous situations."

He warned the measure "potentially risk more children making a dangerous journey to the UK in order to rejoin their parent.”

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty UK's refugee and migrant rights director, branded it "reckless and wrong".

Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, said: “This is not who we are as a country – we should not be forcing children to grow up without their parents. Family reunion is a lifeline. It enables refugees to rebuild their lives, integrate more quickly, and contribute to their communities.”

In an update on the return agreement with France - which has already seen people who arrive in small boats detained, Ms Cooper said: "The first detentions took place the next day of people, immediately on arrival in Dover, and we expect the first returns to begin later this month.

"Applications have also been opened for the reciprocal legal route, with the first cases under consideration subject to strict security checks.

"We've made clear this is a pilot scheme, but the more we prove the concept at the outset, the better we will be able to develop and grow it."

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