Migrant arrivals may force £8million-a-day hotel bill to rise

Demand for migrant hotel rooms could increase again, the Home Office has admitted.

Taxpayers are forking out some £8.2 million every day for asylum seekers despite Government efforts to use barges and former military sites.

Ministers want to make the UK less attractive to migrants, and believe ending the use of hotels will deter some from crossing.

Some 50,000 migrants are currently living in hotel rooms, with ministers hoping to house more at two former RAF bases – RAF Scampton and RAF Wethersfield – and on the Bibby Stockholm barge.

In an Equality Impact Assessment on proposals to use the former home of the Dambusters – RAF Scampton – the Home Office states: “ in the face of record levels of demand, the future remains highly uncertain and, in some scenarios, such as an unexpected rise in irregular arrivals, demand could grow.

“The need for large sites for non-detained accommodation therefore remains.

“Given the likely sustained demand for asylum accommodation for the foreseeable future, there is an urgent requirement for capacity that can be set up at pace to prevent asylum seekers becoming destitute and/or homeless whilst their claims are being processed.”

Another key element of deterring migrants from crossing the Channel is the threat of deportation to Rwanda.

But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to get his deportation plan through Parliament.

The Tory right wants the Bill to be strengthened as they are concerned flights to Kigali could be still be grounded by legal challenges.

And new figures showing Rwanda processed 0.5 per cent of asylum claims in the first six months of this year will heap fresh pressure on the Prime Minister to defend the credibility of the scheme.

Official figures show that it made only 43 decisions despite receiving 8,706 asylum applications in the first six months of this year.

Of those, 38 asylum seekers were given “complementary protection” and another five were “otherwise closed”. None were rejected.

According to Home Office figures, no Channel crossings took place on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day this year. This is the first time this has happened since 2018.

It means there have now been 10 consecutive days without any arrivals recorded, with poor weather conditions potentially contributing to the lack of activity at sea.

he latest journey, on December 16, saw just one boat carrying 55 people make the journey to the UK from France.

Last year, 90 arrivals were recorded on Christmas Day, with none on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day.

It was a similar pattern in 2021, with 67 arrivals on December 25 but none on December 24 or 26.

The number of crossings this year is 36 per cent down compared to this time last year, with the provisional total for 2023 still lower than 30,000.