More asylum hotels have opened up since July, minister says

The border security minister has said more hotels for asylum seekers have opened since Labour came into government, but she pledged to end their use.

Dame Angela Eagle told parliament there are currently 220 hotels in use for asylum seekers, with seven having shut since July - but 14 more have opened.

Labour promised to close asylum hotels in their manifesto, but she said they did not commit "to close all asylum hotels within four months".

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The border security and asylum minister said the reason was the situation left by the Conservatives, with 116,000 asylum seekers "stuck in a backlog" of more than two years when Labour came into power in July.

She said the system "ground to a standstill" because the Tories were busy pursuing the Rwanda policy "which was doomed to failure".

"We inherited an unholy mess from the party opposite," she said.

The Rwanda policy aimed to send those entering the UK illegally from a safe country to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there, rather than in the UK.

However, just one person was sent to the African country, voluntarily, and Labour scrapped the policy as soon as they won the election.

Dame Angela said while they deal with the backlog the government still has a legal obligation to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

"We remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers," she said.

The minister added asylum decisions have gone from less than 1,000 a month to 10,000, which Labour MP Jo White said was 1,000 more than last week.

Dame Angela added the government has returned nearly 10,000 people to the countries they came from since July, which she said "is nearly a 20% increase".

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The minister was answering an urgent question from Gavin Williamson, a Tory minister for much of the last administration, who has written to the home secretary about his "utter shock and dismay" a hotel in his constituency is once again being used to house asylum seekers.

He accused the Labour government of lacking a "credible deterrent" after scrapping the Rwanda scheme.