The Labour Government is set to close down migrant hotels and house residents in former military barracks in a fresh bid to take control of the small boats crisis.
The new policy, which will see the closure of dozens of asylum hotels, will be announced within days by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, The Telegraph reports.
Keir Starmer has faced criticism in recent weeks over his immigration policies after new official figures showed asylum seeker claims hitting a record high, with more migrants being housed in hotels compared with a year ago.
The plan to move migrants into military accommodation comes amid claims they are living a ‘luxury’ lifestyle on taxpayer money.
Currently, two former military bases – MDP Wethersfield in Essex and Napier Barracks in Folkestone – are being used to house asylum seekers.
They were opened under the previous Tory government, but pro-migrant groups criticised the move, comparing the barracks to prisons.
But Labour now intends to expand the Conservative policy, despite drawing up plans last year to end the use of the two sites.
Former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper previously closed down the Bibby Stockholm, a barge used by the Tories to house hundreds of migrants off the Dorset coast.
The Labour Government is set to close down migrant hotels and house residents in former military barracks
Keir Starmer has faced criticism in recent weeks over his immigration policies after new official figures showed asylum seeker claims hitting a record high
Protesters carrying flags and banners march through Faversham in a demonstration organized by the group ‘STOP THE BOATS’, in Kent, United Kingdom, on September 06, 2025
She had also planned to move asylum seekers from hotels into ‘dispersal’ accommodation, such as houses and blocks of flats rented by the Government.
The new policy comes as Labour MP’s have urged Starmer to take on a more radical approach, while Reform UK and Conservatives have both recently said that they would ramp up the detention and deportation of migrants.
According to a regular tracker of voters’ concerns, immigration has overtaken the economy as the biggest issue amid anger over the record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel, including more than 27,000 this year.
Last month, the government was dealt a blow when a council to the northeast of London won a temporary injunction to stop asylum seekers from being housed in a hotel where protests had erupted after one resident was charged with sexual assault.
Other councils have indicated they would also seek similar court orders, while Reform leader Nigel Farage has called for more protests.
‘Labour has lost control of our borders and they’re engulfed in a migration crisis,’ said Chris Philp, the home affairs spokesman for the main opposition Conservative Party.
The new migration data showed more than 32,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels in Britain at the end of June this year, an increase of 8% from the year before.
However, the total figure of just over 32,000 was 43% lower than the peak of 56,042 recorded in September 2023, and slightly down compared with the previous quarterly figures in March.
The new migration data showed more than 32,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels in Britain at the end of June this year
The numbers arriving on small boats have become the focal point for the migration issue
The figures also showed 111,000 people had claimed asylum in the year to June, up 14% from the previous year and surpassing the previous peak of 103,000 recorded in 2002.
The numbers arriving on small boats – up 38% in the year to June – have become the focal point for the migration issue.
Critics say the public are at risk from thousands of young men coming to Britain, while pro-migrant groups say the issue is being used by far right groups to exploit tensions.