Copyright Ben Birchall/PA
By euronews with AP
Published on 23/08/2025
The government is legally obligated to house asylum-seekers. Using hotels to do so had been a marginal issue until 2020, when the number of asylum-seekers increased sharply and the then-Conservative government had to find new ways to house them.
Protesters took to the streets across the UK on Saturday including in the city of Liverpool to demonstrate against hotels housing asylum-seekers.
A number of protests under the Abolish Asylum System slogan, coined by right-wing political parties, were also set to take place in other cities including in Bristol, Newcastle, and London.
In Liverpool, a counter-protest organised by Stand Up To Racism was also held.
Police could also be seen leading away protesters from the Abolish Asylum System protest and pushing back demonstrators from the counter protest
The dilemma of how to house asylum-seekers in Britain got more challenging for the government after a landmark court ruling this week motivated opponents to fight hotels used as accommodation.
Politicians on the right capitalized on a temporary injunction that blocked housing asylum-seekers in a hotel in Epping, on the outskirts of London, to encourage other communities to also go to court.
Legal obligation to house asylum-seekers
The issue is at the heart of a heated public debate over how to control unauthorized immigration that has bedevilled countries across the West as an influx of migrants seeking a better life as they flee war-torn countries, poverty, regions wracked by climate change or political persecution.
In the UK, the debate has focused on the arrival of migrants crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats run by smugglers and escalating tensions over housing thousands of asylum-seekers at government expense around the country.
The government is legally obligated to house asylum-seekers. Using hotels to do so had been a marginal issue until 2020, when the number of asylum-seekers increased sharply and the then-Conservative government had to find new ways to house them.
There have been more than 27,000 unauthorized arrivals so far this year, nearly 50% higher than at the same point last year and ahead of the number at this time of year in 2022, when a record 45,755 came ashore.
The number of asylum-seekers housed in hotels stood at just over 32,000 at the end of June, according to Home Office figures released Thursday. That figure was up 8% from about 29,500 a year earlier but far below the peak of more than 56,000 in September 2023.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
In May, the National Audit Office said those temporarily living in hotels accounted for 35% of all people in asylum accommodation.
Refugee charities demand end to racist
rhetoric amid asylum seeker hotel protests
and media storm
Left Foot Forward
“The pernicious and insidious currents of racism and hatred underlying these protests are glaring evidence of a failing system. The responsibility to end the divisive politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past is yours."
Refugee and asylum rights organisations across the UK are ramping up their response to what they describe as a rising tide of “racist rhetoric” from politicians and media outlets, in the wake of escalating tensions surrounding the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
The move comes after weeks of unrest in Epping, Essex, where an asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. The incident drew large crowds, including far-right agitators, to protest outside the hotel where asylum seekers are being housed, raising fears about community safety and the threat of violent backlash against migrants.
The media has been quick to seize on the controversy. Warnings have been made that headlines like the Daily Mail’s August 20 front page, “Labour’s migrant hotels policy in disarray,” and the Express declaring the closure of one Essex hotel a “victory for the mums,” have only fuelled public anger.
Critics have also been quick to point out the inaccuracy of attributing the hotel policy to Labour, noting that the number of so-called “asylum hotels” actually peaked under Conservative leadership, with 402 in operation under Rishi Sunak, compared to 210 now.
In response to the antagonistic media and political discourse, Refugee Action has launched a petition calling for an end to language that they argue dehumanises migrants and fuels racial hatred. Their petition reads:
“We, the signatories to this petition, demand an end to the danger your words create for refugees, Muslims, migrants, Black and Brown people, and racialised communities. Seeking asylum is legal. Stop insinuating people have done anything wrong by asking the UK for protection. Make no excuses for racist violence. Call it what it is. When Muslims are targeted, call it Islamophobia. Abandon dehumanising words and slogans. ‘Stop the boats’, ‘Illegal migrant’, ‘Swarms’, ‘We want our country back’ – when your words are used by violent racists it is time to reconsider them. Stop promoting the hostile and racist policies that divide our communities. Welcome people seeking safety with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
In a further show of solidarity, more than 200 refugee and human rights organisations signed an open letter addressed to UK political leaders. Coordinated by Together With Refugees, which is the largest pro-refugee coalition in British history, the letter condemns recent anti-refugee protests and calls for an end to the ‘divisive politics’ that have led to a hostile climate for people seeking safety.
The open letter has been signed by 213 organisations, including Amnesty International UK, Care4Calais, Oxfam, Refugee Action, Freedom from Torture, and Islamic Relief. It states: “Anti-refugee protests across the country have been distressing to witness, with echoes of last summer’s riots making them all the more alarming.
“The pernicious and insidious currents of racism and hatred underlying these protests are glaring evidence of a failing system. The responsibility to end the divisive politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past is yours. Only then will you bring unity instead of division and cohesion rather than hate.”
The letter concludes: “For those who need our compassion to be confronted with further torment here in the UK is shocking. But the outpouring of support from communities condemning the hatred is a powerful reminder that these views do not represent the vast majority. Today we stand in solidarity with those targeted, because this is what represents our country, this is who we are.”
Together With Refugees recently hosted its Welcome Weekend, a nationwide initiative designed to offer an alternative narrative, one of hospitality, empathy, and solidarity. Hundreds of events were held across the UK, with communities putting up welcome posters, sharing refugee stories, and calling for a new, fairer asylum system.
The coalition is now urging political leaders to adopt a ‘fair new plan for refugees,’ one that honours the UK’s international obligations, opens safe and legal routes to asylum, and tackles the global root causes of displacement with compassion and cooperation.
Britain First’s ‘March for Remigration’ led by convicted people smuggler, Hope not Hate reveals
Basit Mahmood
Lee Twamley, photographed at the front of Britain First’s “March for Remigration” in Manchester this month, has served prison time for trying to smuggle Vietnamese migrants into the UK.
Far-right Britain First’s ‘March for Remigration’ in Manchester, in which the extremist group called for mass deportations, was led by a convicted people smuggler.
Anti-fascist campaign group Hope Not Hate reports that ‘Lee Twamley, photographed at the front of Britain First’s “March for Remigration” in Manchester this month, has served prison time for trying to smuggle Vietnamese migrants into the UK”.
A reminder that Britain First portrays itself not only as anti-immigration but also as tough on law and order.
Under the slogan “March for Remigration”, a euphemism for mass deportations, the group has held a series of events that have brought an assortment of neo-Nazis, misogynists, crackpots and convicts onto the streets of Nuneaton, Birmingham and, on 2 August, Manchester.
Twamley, was photographed marching alongside Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Ashlea Simon at the forefront of the Manchester event, holding a Union Jack flag aloft.
Hope not Hate reveals: “Twamley was previously jailed for 20 months as part of a Salford gang that tried to smuggle 11 Vietnamese migrants across the Channel to pay off drug debts.”
(Picture credit: Hope not Hate)
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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