It could easily be the defining
political issue of our time. Illegal
immigration, the asylum system, and the
government's handling of both are
becoming critical measures of success or
failure.
>> Today's government figures show that in
the year to June, there were 43,000
small boat arrivals, up 38% on the year
before, but 3,000 short of the peak in
2022.
There were more than 32,000 asylum
seekers being housed in hotels, up 8%
since last year, but well down on the
peak of 56,000 in September 2023.
The number of asylum seekers waiting for
an initial decision was 91,000, down
18%.
Sammy Gitchki fled Afghanistan fearing
political persecution. He waited 12
years before recently being granted
refugee status. For some of that time,
he was housed in an asylum hotel.
>> Even saying calling it a hotel, I think
it glamorizes the situation when it is
not like a hotel. These spaces have been
completely transformed to not be good
places to live that you're not meeting
your needs. You don't have any
amenities. You are basically living
waiting for what the home office will
whether they would give you a decision
or not. And there's nothing you can do
about it. After the Bell Hotel in Eping
became a focus for anti-immigration
protests and following a successful
challenge by the local council this
week, a high court ruling blocked asylum
seekers from being housed there.
>> We're supporting other Conservative
councils who want to do the same. In the
last nine months of the previous uh
government, we managed to get hotels
down by about 200. We closed 200 hotels.
Had that trend continued after the
election, there wouldn't be any hotels
at all. Now,
>> following the Eping case, IV News has
found that at least 26 other councils,
including some Labor run, say they're
considering their options. For now,
government ministers are tight lipped on
what alternative accommodation may look
like.
>> I absolutely understand the concerns
that local communities have and they
they want sort of clarity about the
situation. Unfortunately, we have
inherited a significant challenge, a
real mess in the immigration system. We
are working hard to sort it out, but it
is going to take some time.
The Home Office plan was to phase out
the use of hotels by 2029 whilst
reforming the asylum system, but the
pressure to move faster is ever growing.
Carrie Davis, ITV News.
And our political correspondent, Shehab
Khan, is in Westminster for us. Jihab,
how difficult is all this for the
government?
>> Extremely. Those figures that you've
just heard don't exactly make for
fantastic reading. And the Conservatives
are being very critical of the Labor
government as you heard in Carrie's
report there. Their shadow home
secretary says that under them in their
final few months in government, the use
of hotels in particular for asylum
seekers was going down. And they're also
being very critical about small boat
crossings, arguing that getting rid of
the Rwanda policy, something that Labour
did when they came into office, is one
of the reasons why those figures still
remain high. But speaking to Home Office
sources, they describe that as rank
hypocrisy. They argue that they
inherited a system that simply wasn't
working and that there is no overnight
solution to this. When it comes to those
people, those asylum seekers in hotels,
they say they are looking at a range of
different forms of accommodation to
potentially house people in that their
uh target is to ensure that there is no
hotel usage by the end of this
parliament, so 2029.
But given that this has become such a
huge issue for both major parties, there
is a lot of pressure on the Labor
government to deliver on this especially
at a time where reform's popularity
continues to rise. Nigel Faraj and his
party have not been afraid to criticize
both major parties saying that they have
failed on this and that's why despite
the government saying there's no
overnight solution, pressures on to deal
with this and quickly.
>> Right, Chihab in Westminster. Thank you.