Exposed: Labour’s plot to silence migrant hotel critics

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/31/exposed-labour-plot-silence-migrant-hotel-critics/

Posted by DolourousEdd

17 comments

  1. A secretive Whitehall “spy” unit has been used by the Government to target [social media posts criticising migrant hotels](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/26/elite-police-unit-to-monitor-online-critics-of-migrants/) and “two-tier policing”.

    The Telegraph can reveal that officials working for Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, have flagged videos with “concerning narratives” to social media giants including TikTok, warning that they were “exacerbating tensions” [on the streets](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/21/essex-anti-migrant-protests-epping/).

    Emails recovered by a US congressional committee show that civil servants have complained to tech firms about content mentioning asylum seekers, immigration and [two-tier policing](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/27/two-tier-policing-is-the-nail-in-the-coffin-for-britains-so/).

    The dossier has emerged as ministers battle claims that the UK is censoring social media with the Online Safety Act, including from [allies of Donald Trump, the US president](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/07/30/white-house-warns-starmer-tech-online-safety-bill/).

    The disclosure reveals that members of the Government’s National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT) complained about a series of posts that were critical of mass migration and asylum hotels in August last year [during the Southport riots](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/11/x-and-meta-profited-southport-riot-misinformation/).

    The team, based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, was previously known as the Counter Disinformation Unit and [was used during the Covid pandemic](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/07/secretive-government-agency-brought-monitor-riots/) to monitor anti-lockdown campaigners.

    The exchanges are likely to fuel claims that Labour is seeking to silence criticism over its continued [use of asylum hotels](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/28/cheshire-asylum-king-making-a-fortune-from-migrant-hotels/). Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to end their use by 2029 amid concerns that they are costing taxpayers £4m a day and causing tensions in communities.

    The row over the hotels exploded again earlier this month when demonstrations broke out at a hotel in Epping after a migrant tried to kiss a teenager, with [further protests on Thursday night](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/31/protests-epping-migrants-bell-hotel-essex/).

  3. Looking forward to sir kier getting promoted to Chancellor then making the step to emperor. Rachel reeves as darth vader.

  4. I am curious why labour repealed a law Tories brought in that would have made anyone who came in boats denied aslyum.

  5. Don’t we expect Government to keep an eye on traitorous terrorists who hate British values?

  6. Or, civil servants send messages to the likes of TikTok etc to express concern at the quantity of rubbish content which could directly become responsible in fueling stuff which doesn’t exist without their doing that, as witnessed last summer.

    If I were in the Home Office, I’d be fucking pissed off by the rinse and repeat of social media companies being used to spread shite.

  7. Labour looked at China, Russia and thought to themselves – that’s cool, let me copy that

  8. It’s hard not to think labour have given up on leading beyond this parliament and want to challenge the tories to see who can be the worst.

    So far the tories still have it but labour are coming up steadily.

    I do think it’s important to be realistic for a moment here.

    If we have massive and widespread riots at these hotels…the there will be fighting with stand up to racism which is sorta standard and can be controlled…what cannot be controlled is when we see it spilling out into communities. Last year we saw groups defending their communities and folks coming into communities. We saw people of all colours been attacked savagely purely for their colour.

    When the cat is out of the bag with this stuff you cannot put it back in.

    If people start to see ever more examples of two tier policing, examples of punative exemplar sentencing etc. Then we could very well see all sense of order die.

    The British police are worrying at the best of times…if we see riots, race riots, violence and anger across the nation what do you think we will look like afterwards? It could cripple race relations.

    So while I’m utterly opposed to the totalitarianism we are heading towards…I do think we need to worry about where we are heading.

    Unfortunately I fear the price of stopping it will be the further slide into totalitarianism.

  9. Peter Kyle’s not had the best week, had he? (Awaiting my 4am police raid).

  10. I feel that this will make things worse and create secret chat rooms like it always does. The simple solution is as always is to listen to public. Have a detention centre for those who come via boats and restart something similar to the Rwanda agreement. Stop all asylum processing until we sort our own welfare out. And then have a civilise debate about how many we should allow in but we should cap the ones we can’t deport in case of overstay

  11. Tories governed for most of the last 80 years, still the right wing media claim labour for everything that doesn’t work as it should in the UK. Be careful with these fake prophets!

  12. So many comments about political parties in charge here and blaming each other. Bottom line is, doesn’t matter who is in the seat, everyone needs to come together to find a viable solution here as up until now, no one has.

  14. The biggest pull factor is that their claim will be processed. If you want to save lives you’ve got to send them straight back to France to show that crossing is pointless.

    How do you get France to agree to that? You agree to resettle a refugee that’s already settled in France for every person who crosses by boat.

    Once you’ve shown that both the UK and France are working together to make crossing the channel completely pointless, no one will risk their life crossing, and the swap isn’t triggered.

  15. This some bogus China shit. How far we have fallen is such a short time. Shame.

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