The number of asylum seekers housed in government hotels has risen in the first year under Labour, piling further pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to get a grip on the growing number of people making dangerous Channel crossings.
The data follows a High Court ruling on Tuesday that banned the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, for housing asylum seekers after lawyers argued it had become a “feeding ground for unrest” following a string of violent protests near the site.
