Government's action to tackle the number of asylum seekers coming to UK important step to 'restoring order', says Yvette Cooper
The home secretary has said the government’s action to tackle the number of asylum seekers coming to the UK had been important steps to “restoring order”.
Responding to new immigration statistics, Yvette Cooper said Labour had overseen increased numbers of returns of failed asylum seekers and pointed to the reduced spending on asylum.
According to the PA news agency, Cooper said:
We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous government left in chaos. Since coming to office we have strengthened Britain’s visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns, as today’s figures show.
The action we have taken in the last 12 months – increasing returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30%, cutting asylum costs by 11%, reducing the backlog by 18% and our forthcoming plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system – are crucial steps to restoring order and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government.
At the same time, we are bringing legal migration back under control, with a 48% reduction in work visas this year – and further stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our white paper expected to bring those overall numbers down further.
As we roll out further reforms, including the new pilot with France, new counter terror powers to strengthen border security and new asylum reforms later this year (including reforms to speed up the persistent delays in the appeals system), we will continue to take the serious steps required to restore order, control and fairness to the system, and to continue building the foundations of a new and stronger approach.
Figures published by the Home Office on Thursday showed that the number of quarterly enforced returns of people who do not have a right to stay in the UK rose slightly from 2,314 in January-March 2025 to 2,323 in April-June 2025.
A total of 9,072 enforced returns took place in the year to June, up 25% from 7,253 in the previous year and the highest figure for a 12-month period since the year to December 2018 (9,236).
The Home Office is responsible for returning people to their country of origin if they do not have a legal right to remain in the UK. There are three types of returns: enforced returns, which are carried out directly by the Home Office; voluntary returns, who are people who were facing deportation but left of their own accord, sometimes with support from the Home Office; and port returns, who are people refused entry to the UK and who have subsequently departed.
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The Refugee Council said it welcomed “initial progress” in reducing the asylum backlog.
Responding to the government’s quarterly asylum and immigration statistics released today, the refugee charity said the data “show[ed] mixed progress in the first year against the government’s manifesto pledge to ‘restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly’”.
The charity noted that for the first time in four years, the asylum applications backlog fell below 100,000 people. It now stands at just over 70,000 cases, relating to almost 91,000 people – down by 18% from a year earlier and its lowest since September 2021, it added.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said:
Bringing the asylum system back from the brink of collapse is a genuine achievement in the government’s first year. The increase in asylum decisions means refugees can begin to rebuild their lives sooner, and the use of costly hotels can be ended faster.
However, this good work is being put at risk by poor-quality decisions – right now nearly half of appeals are successful. These mistakes have life-changing consequences for the people we work with, who have fled persecution in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan.
There’s also still far too many people in hotels. Everyone agrees that hotels are the wrong answer – they cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo and are flashpoints in communities. Getting decisions right first time is vital so refugees who need protection can move out of hotels and start rebuilding in safety, while those who don’t have the right to stay can return with dignity and respect.
Alongside faster, better decisions we also need safe and legal routes, so people escaping conflict can reach the UK without taking dangerous journeys. Schemes for Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan have shown what’s possible; that same lifeline must now be extended to others.
Construction begins on 'landmark' windfarm in south Scotland
Construction work has begun on a “landmark” windfarm in the south of Scotland that will generate enough electricity to power about 335,000 homes.
The Sanquhar II community windfarm will become the UK’s fourth largest onshore windfarm when it becomes operational in August 2026, according to developers CWP Energy.
The 44-turbine farm, which is being built in Dumfries and Galloway and east Ayrshire, will create more than £800m in local investment over its 40-year operational life. It is also expected to generate hundreds of jobs during the building phase, with the company saying “almost 50%” of the workforce will be sourced locally.
The development was paused in 2023 over “tax decisions” by the previous UK government, but the company said it was made possible last month by the current UK government dropping its plans for “zonal energy pricing”.
According to the PA news agency, Rod Wood, director of CWP Energy, said:
Onshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of homegrown electricity, delivering consumers and businesses excellent value for money. We’re delighted that after nearly 10 years of careful planning, ground has been broken and the construction of Sanquhar II is now under way.
The project brings with it an investment of an immediate £400m into the Scottish economy, creating long-term jobs, and paying local authority rates, taxes and community benefits.
We’re grateful to the Scottish government for backing Sanquhar II and to the UK government for creating confidence in the renewables sector.
James Ian Robinson, senior sales director for the UK and Ireland at Vestas, which is providing the project’s EnVentus platforms and V162 turbines, described it as an “important step” towards greater UK energy security:
Construction is now under way on what will become the UK’s fourth largest onshore wind project, and we’re honoured to contribute to this landmark development.
Sanquhar II marks another important step toward greater energy security through homegrown power generation in the UK.
CWP Energy said the farm, which has been nearly 10 years in the planning, will offset 540,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
Scottish secretary Ian Murray said he welcomed the development, which he said “demonstrates Scotland’s vital role in delivering the UK government’s clean power mission”. He added:
Reformed national pricing will ensure the benefits of clean power are felt by communities and consumers in every part of the country, while giving businesses the stability and certainty they need to continue investing to upgrade our infrastructure to boost our national energy security, helping to create thousands of skilled jobs, and boosting the economy.
Huw Jones, chair of Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK, set out the positive impact the construction phase of the development will have on the local economy. “Currently on site, we are averaging 100 personnel per day, with the expectation for this to rise to 200,” he said, adding:
We are utilising local contractors and suppliers where we can, and almost 50% of our workforce are from the local area, with many others utilising the accommodation facilities within the surrounding towns and villages.
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The number of young people not in education, employment or training (known as Neets) has increased, figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was an increase in the number of Neets aged 16 to 24 in the three months to June to 948,000, up from 923,000 in January to March.
The PA news agency reports that TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:
This is yet another toxic Tory legacy this government has to fix. Under the Conservatives, too many were failed with hundreds of thousands of young people stuck out of work, education or training.
This has damaging consequences for young people’s prospects – and for the country as a whole too.
With the youth guarantee, stronger employment rights, an industrial strategy and apprenticeship reforms, the government has made a positive start in turning this around.
Iona Ledwidge, chief executive of youth charity Resurgo, said:
These new figures represent a growing mountain of untapped talent and are a clear signal that the government needs to speed up its work to support young people into work or education.
More than half of these young people have never had a job. Joblessness is a bottomless pit – the further you go into it, the harder it is to climb out. But we’ve seen thousands climb out and thrive. Sustained, tailored coaching in the right skills is the ladder.
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Despite a good month for the public finances, the Treasury won’t be putting in any champagne orders, writes the Guardian’s senior economics writer, Phillip Inman.
You can read his analysis, on why radical tax reform may be only way for chancellor Rachel Reeves to balance the books, at the link below:
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Retired women effectively go more than four months every year without getting a pension because of a gender gap, according to research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The PA news agency reports that the TUC estimated women were losing the equivalent of £7,600 a year on average. The union organisation said compared with men, retired women effectively stop receiving pension income from today.
The income gap between men and women in retirement is now 36.5%, according to research from the Prospect union.
The government has revived the pension commission, which will bring together unions, employer and independent experts to look into the causes of the gap.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:
Everyone deserves dignity and security in retirement, but too many retired women have been left without enough to get by.
We must make sure that these inequalities are addressed for future generations. That’s why reviving the pensions commission – bringing together unions, employers and independent experts – is a vital step forward.
We now have a chance to make sure everyone, including women, receive the decent retirement income that all workers need.
A government spokesperson said:
We’re determined to close the gender pensions gap, and the new state pension has already reduced historic inequalities faced by women and low earners. Alongside this, the pensions commission will tackle barriers to close the gender pensions gap in private pensions to ensure women have the dignity and security they deserve in retirement.
Minister Catherine McKinnell has said it is “really important” to manage asylum accommodation while also speeding up the claims process.
The education minister told Sky News this morning, before Thursday’s Home Office data release:
We inherited a terrible mess from the last government when it comes to the immigration system and particularly the processing of asylum claims – massive backlog.
She added:
[I] absolutely recognise the concerns that local communities have and we want to work with local communities to find solutions.
Pressed on the speed of government efforts to close asylum hotels, McKinnell said:
What we’ve done is doubled the number of asylum claims that have been processed. So, that is reducing the number of people who are requiring this accommodation, but also returning people that shouldn’t be here.
We’re also committed to ending the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.
So, it will take some time to clean up the situation that we’ve inherited, but, you know, it’s really important that we continue to both manage the accommodation that people are currently in and also speed up the process.
The backlogs are totally unacceptable, not only for the amount of time that people are wasting, but that people are just not being returned that shouldn’t be here as well.
People have 'every right' to protest asylum hotels, says shadow home secretary
People have “every right to engage in protest”, the shadow home secretary has said, amid concerns a high court ruling could trigger a wave of demonstrations outside asylum hotels.
Chris Philp named three Conservative-led councils which are considering taking legal action against hoteliers whose property is being used to house asylum seekers. His party’s leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Conservative council leaders “encouraging” them to follow Epping Forest district council’s footsteps by launching bids to shut these hotels, if their “legal advice supports it”.
Philp told BBC Breakfast on Thursday that Borough of Broxbourne council in Hertfordshire, Reigate and Banstead borough council in Surrey, and Hillingdon council in London were each considering taking similar legal action. “So, I think there are many up and down the country who are looking at this following the Epping ruling,” he said.
Philp added:
I think these councils are, you know, sick and tired of having these asylum hotels housing predominantly young men who entered the country illegally in their communities. They want to see them closing down and that is why I think they’re rightly looking at legal action.
According to the PA news agency, when asked whether there was a “risk” the high court’s decision “will encourage more protests and problems in communities outside these hotels”, Philp told BBC Breakfast:
People are understandably angry about the government, the Labour government’s failings, the border crisis they’re presiding over.
They do have the right to peacefully protest – I do stress the word ‘peacefully’. Peaceful protest is lawful, it is every citizen’s right to do that. Of course, if it isn’t peaceful, that is wrong and that should be dealt with by the police, but where protest is peaceful, people have every right to engage in protest.
He had earlier claimed that “reporting says hundreds of charges have been laid against illegal immigrants being accommodated in these hotels”.
Number of asylum seekers housed in UK hotels up 8% on 12 months ago at end of Labour's first year in government
A total of 32,059 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of Labour’s first year in government, up 8% on the same point 12 months ago, Home Office data released today shows, reports the PA news agency.
The latest data, published on Thursday as part of the usual quarterly immigration statistics, cover Labour’s first year in office. They show the number of asylum seekers in UK hotels by the end of June was up from 29,585 at the same point a year earlier, when the Conservatives were still in power but down slightly on the 32,345 figure at the end of March.
The latest number is still below the peak of 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels at the end of September 2023 under the Tories.
Figures for hotels published by the Home Office on Thursday date back to December 2022.
Government spending on asylum in the UK stood at £4.76bn in 2024/25, down 12% from a record £5.38bn in 2023/24.
The total covers all Home Office costs related to asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation, plus wider staffing and other migration and borders activity. It does not include costs relating to the interception of migrants who travel to the UK across the English Channel in small boats.
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UK borrowed less than expected in July in lift for Rachel Reeves
The UK government borrowed less than expected in July, official figures show, in a boost to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she faces pressure ahead of her autumn budget.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – fell to £1.1bn, down by £2.3bn from the same month a year earlier.
The reading was below City predictions for a deficit of £2.6bn and forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) of £2.1bn.
Borrowing over the first four months of the financial year so far was £60bn. While matching the OBR’s forecasts, it was £6.7bn higher than in the same period a year earlier, and the third highest April-to-July borrowing since monthly records began.
Despite the better-than-expected July figure, economists warned the chancellor would still face a tough autumn budget because the OBR was likely to slash its growth forecasts for the UK economy, while Labour’s welfare U-turns would add to borrowing.
Alex Kerr, UK economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said Reeves would probably need to raise between £17bn and £27bn to maintain headroom of £9.9bn against her self-imposed fiscal rules.
“Ultimately, today’s release does little to brighten the gloomy outlook ahead of the budget later this year,” he said.
Ministers are understood to be exploring options to raise more money from inheritances and property taxation, the Guardian has revealed. Earlier this month the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) thinktank warned the shortfall in the public finances could reach more than £40bn.
Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, said the latest figures would offer Reeves some relief. “Talk of a huge ‘black hole’ in the public finances is looking overstated, but the outlook is still uncomfortably tight,” he said.
Labour peer urges ministers to appeal against court ruling to close Epping hotel
Charles Falconer, a Labour peer who served as justice secretary under Tony Blair and was previously Keir Starmer’s shadow attorney general, urged ministers to appeal against the court decision to close the asylum hotel in Epping.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme the judgment “causes great problems” because it “gives rise to the expectation that some asylum hotels can be closed” but without indicating which ones. He said:
I very strongly urge the government – I don’t know what they’re going to do – to appeal and get some certainty, first of all on which should be closed … and which shouldn’t. Secondly, to deal with the question of a reasonable timescale in relation to this, and thirdly, to deal with this very troublesome issue: namely do demonstrations outside these hostels lead it to it being more likely that they will be closed?
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said that the Conservatives were wrong to have used so many hotels to house asylum seekers while they were in government.
Asked whether the number of hotels in use had been a mistake, Philp told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme:
Yes it was. We wanted to get it down. And we did get it down. In the last nine months we halved the number of asylum hotels and had that trend continued by now there would be no asylum hotels.
Catherine McKinell, an education minister, said the government was committed to ending the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament. Asked where asylum seekers would be housed instead, she told Times Radio:
That’s a big question. And one that I think we need to work very closely with local authorities and local communities to tackle.
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Education minister Catherine McKinnell has said the government is “tackling” the barriers to better grades after she was asked why white working-class children are “doing so badly”, reports the PA news agency.
McKinnell said the question was a “really profound” one and that underachievement in that demographic “has persisted over many years”.
She told Times Radio:
We’ve seen there have been some improvements in our school system in the last decade, there have been over 30 years improvements in our school system. But this challenge has persisted, which is why we are very focused on tackling child poverty in the early years.
We’re extending free school meals to [an] additional half a million children. We’re investing in free breakfast clubs to make sure that children get that really good start to the day, both from a socialised perspective, but also food. So, we are tackling what we see are the barriers that are holding young people back, and also making sure that they want to be in school as well.
Students receiving their GCSE results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday will have “support available”, McKinell added.
McKinnell told Times Radio:
I think whatever the outcome for these young people, they have worked incredibly hard, as have the schools, as have the teachers. So, it really is a day to recognise that and to celebrate, and also to mark how important it is that this is a springboard into whatever comes next.
So, for young people who are awaiting their results, whatever the outcome, there’ll be support available, whether it’s to go on to an apprenticeship, to A-levels, to T-levels, to vocational qualifications.
It’s a very exciting day for an awful lot of young people, their families and their schools.
You can keep up to date with the latest via the Guardian’s GCSE results live blog:
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Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has echoed Kemi Badenoch’s views, saying the country is “in a mess”. He told the Daily Express:
Every patriotic council, whether Conservative, Reform, whatever, should follow Epping’s lead and seek an injunction.
Tuesday’s high court decision has also caused a potential headache for the Home Office, which has a legal duty to house destitute asylum seekers while their claims are being dealt with. If planning laws prevent the government from using hotels, ministers will face a scramble to find alternative accommodation, potentially in the private rented sector.
Badenoch urges Tory councils to challenge asylum hotels in court
Kemi Badenoch has called for more Conservative councils to launch legal challenges over hotels housing asylum seekers as the government faces a potential revolt from its own local authorities.
In a letter to Tory councils, Badenoch said she was “encouraging” them to “take the same steps” as Epping council “if your legal advice supports it”, reports the PA news agency.
Epping secured a temporary injunction from the high court on Tuesday, blocking the use of the Essex town’s Bell hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers on planning grounds.
Labour dismissed Badenoch’s letter as “desperate and hypocritical nonsense”, but several of its own local authorities have already suggested they too, could mount legal action against hotels in their areas.
The decision has prompted councils controlled by Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK to investigate whether they could pursue a similar course of action. These include Labour-run Tamworth and Wirral councils, Tory-run Broxbourne and East Lindsey councils and Reform’s Staffordshire and West Northamptonshire councils.
Patrick Harley, the leader of Conservative-run Dudley council, told the Daily Mail it was looking at taking legal action, a verdict echoed by Richard Biggs, the Tory leader of Reigate and Banstead council. But Labour’s Newcastle city council and Brighton and Hove city council have both ruled out legal action.
In her letter, Badenoch praised Epping council’s legal challenge and told Tory councils she would “back you to take similar action to protect your community”. But she added that the situation would “depend on individual circumstances of the case” and suggested Tory councils could pursue “other planning enforcement options”.
Badenoch also accused Labour of “trying to ram through such asylum hotels without consultation and proper process”, saying the government had reopened the Bell hotel as asylum accommodation after the Conservatives had closed it. The hotel had previously been used as asylum accommodation briefly in 2020 and then between 2022 and 2024 under the previous Conservative government.
According to the PA news agency, a Labour spokesperson said Badenoch’s letter was a “pathetic stunt” and “desperate and hypocritical nonsense from the architects of the broken asylum system”, saying there were now “20,000 fewer asylum seekers in hotels than at their peak under the Tories”.
The letter comes ahead of the publication on Thursday of figures showing how many asylum seekers were being temporarily housed in hotels at the end of June this year. We’ll have more on this soon.
Meanwhile, students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their GCSE results today. Education minister Catherine McKinnell is on the morning media rounds for the government, while the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp is doing the same for the Conservatives.
In other developments:
The UK government borrowed less than expected in July, official figures show, in a boost to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she faces pressure ahead of her autumn budget. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – fell to £1.1bn, down by £2.3bn from the same month a year earlier.
Stella Creasy and Richard Tice are pushing for Labour to allow a Brexit scrutiny committee to be formed in parliament, after the Guardian revealed environmental protections had been eroded since the UK left the EU. The Labour and Reform UK MPs argue that there is no scrutiny or accountability over how Brexit is being implemented.
The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has been hit with a legal challenge after she overruled a local council to approve a hyperscale datacentre on green belt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire. Campaigners bringing the action are complaining that no environmental impact assessment was made for the 90MW datacentre, which was approved as part of the Labour government’s push to turn the UK into an AI powerhouse by trebling computing capacity to meet rising demand amid what it terms “a global race” as AI usage takes off.
England will sell off more than eight times as many council homes in 2025-26 as were constructed the previous year, research has found. Right to buy is depleting council housing stock more quickly than public housing can be replaced, forcing people to spend more money on private market rents and obtain less secure tenancies, a report from the thinktank Common Wealth finds.
