Record 111,000 claims from asylum seekers in Labour's first year
The levels of claims in the year to June 2025 was up 14 per cent on the previous 12 months, figures show.
In total, 111,084 people claimed asylum during the period — 8 per cent more than the previous peak in 2002.
Half of those entered the UK through irregular routes, with 39 per cent arriving by small boat and a further 11 per cent coming in lorries, shipping containers or without the correct documents.
The number of migrants being housed in hotels has also risen under Starmer.
By the end of June in 2024, there were 29,585 people in receipt of asylum support at hotels and 67,057 in other accommodations. By the same point this year those figures had risen to 32,059 in hotels (up 8 per cent) and 70,807 elsewhere (up 6 per cent).
• Labour councils poised to take legal action against migrant hotels
Labour is likely to argue, however, that the use of hotels has fallen in each quarter since last September, and is still lower than for most of the period the Conservatives were in power.
The number of people in receipt of asylum support was up 5 per cent year-on-year but this was still 14 per cent lower than at the end of September 2023, when it peaked at 123,758.
The areas with the highest proportion of asylum seekers were England's North West and North East, with 2,739 and 2,643 people per million residents respectively. The numbers seeking asylum in both regions has increased, at 21,196 and 7,296 — up from 19,606 and 6,920 at the end of June last year.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'There are more immigrants in hotels than at the time of the election and fewer people are being removed … this is a migration crisis and the weak Labour government is making it worse.'
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, blamed the figures on Labour having 'inherited a broken immigration and asylum system' from the previous Conservative government. She vowed to 'continue to take the serious steps required to restore order, control and fairness to the system'.
Cooper stressed action had already been taken to deter future small boat arrivals and reduce net migration overall. She said that, in the past 12 months, returns of failed asylum seekers had risen by over 30 per cent while asylum costs had been reduced by 11 per cent. Work visas are down 48 per cent so far this year, she said.
Nigel Farage said the numbers were a 'disaster'. The Reform leader added: 'The public are right to be very angry with both Labour and the Tories for what they have done to us.'
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