Posted by: John Phoenix
Far-right protest against asylum seeker hotels in the UK, 2025. X/ @AngloLancs927
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British prime minister pledges to speed up closures amid protests, lawsuits, and far-right rallies.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he wants to close all asylum seeker hotels in the United Kingdom “as soon as possible,” following lawsuits and protests in recent weeks over the migration system.
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“I understand why people want the hotels closed. I want them closed too. I will work with my team to shut them down as quickly as possible,” Starmer told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Starmer said the only way to “empty” the hotels is to do it “in an orderly, systematic way, working through the cases as quickly as possible” and then deporting people who are not entitled to remain in the U.K.
The UK prime minister intends to “bring forward” the current timetable, which had envisioned closing migrant reception hotels before 2029, the end of the current parliamentary term.
Illegal migration and the fight against human smuggling gangs in the English Channel are central to the Labour government’s policy roadmap, which, according to Starmer, entered its “second phase” on Monday.
He stressed that migration is “a really serious problem” and reiterated his goal of “controlling the borders” by addressing people who enter the U.K. illegally, the use of asylum hotels and deportations, which under his government have reached 35,000.
On Aug. 19, the High Court of England and Wales ruled in favor of the Epping Forest District Council, north of London, ordering the Bell Hotel — housing more than 100 asylum seekers — to be vacated before Sept. 12. The facility had become the focus of protests after one resident was accused of an alleged sexual assault.
However, that ruling, which could have triggered similar outcomes in other towns, was overturned Friday after the U.K. Home Office won an appeal in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, halting the eviction of the Epping hotel.
The controversy around asylum hotels has fueled a nationwide trend, backed largely by far-right groups, who have taken to the streets carrying the English flag — the red cross of St. George on a white background — as a symbol of supposed British “purity.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Starmer described himself as “a supporter of flags,” though he said he disagreed with the use of national symbols in a “divisive” and “debased” way.