Refuge More short-term hotel places are needed to avert chaos, says minister

The asylum system would "descend into chaos" if Labour refused to open more hotels for people seeking refuge in the UK, a Home Office minister has told the Guardian.

- Rajeev Syal

Angela Eagle, the minister for borders, security and asylum, said officials had been forced to find more private accommodation for new arrivals and blamed the backlog of tens of thousands of cases built up under the last government.

The government's decision to open asylum hotels despite Keir Starmer's promise that he would close them has been condemned by the Conservatives and Reform UK. In Labour's election manifesto, Starmer had said he would "end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds".

On Thursday, hundreds of people were removed from the Bibby Stockholm barge and put into hotels across the country. Asylum seekers were also moved into two hotels in Berkshire and Greater Manchester after the Home Office received "ministerial approval" to use them.

In her first public comments on the development, Eagle said ministers had no choice but to make the temporary move after discovering nearly 120,000 unprocessed asylum claims after Labour took power.