In recent days we’ve seen more claims about how the number of asylum hotels has changed under Labour, many of which are inaccurate or misleading.
Some media reports and claims on social media have suggested that the number of asylum hotels has “halved” under Labour, which is not correct.
And Labour politicians have continued to claim that the number of asylum hotels has been brought down from around 400 at its peak under the previous government to around 200 now. As we wrote last week, while these figures are broadly accurate, this claim is potentially misleading because it fails to make clear that almost all of this reduction took place under the Conservatives, not Labour.
In its first year in office Labour reduced the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers by a net of three, from 213 in July 2024 to 210 in July 2025.
What are the latest claims?
On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday [2:02:30], the 8am news bulletin reported that “the government has promised to end the use of asylum hotels by the next election, and says it’s already halved their number”.
The Guardian reported that “the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers has halved in the year since Labour took power”.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), ITV’s UK editor Paul Brand wrote that the government had said the number of hotels being used is “down from 402 to 210 under them”.
And a Sky News report on Thursday, which has since been corrected, claimed that the Labour leader of Tamworth borough council, Carol Dean, had “pointed out that under the Labour government, the use of hotels has halved from 402 to 210, with the aim of stopping the use of any hotels by 2029”.
We’ve also seen lots of similar claims on social media about Labour having supposedly “halved” the number of asylum hotels.
But as we explained in our fact check last week, while it’s true that the number of asylum hotels peaked at over 400 in the summer of 2023, and as of last month stood at 210, almost all of this reduction took place under the Conservatives.
We have seen the Home Office and government ministers repeatedly cite these figures without making it clear which government most of the reduction occurred under.
This appears to be what Ms Dean did when making the comments which were paraphrased by Sky News. She reportedly said: “Nationally Labour came to power just over a year ago. The use of hotels has halved from 402 at their peak to 210 now.”
And on Wednesday Home Office minister Dan Jarvis told BBC Breakfast that “under the previous government there were something like 400 hotels in use—we’ve driven that number down to 200”.
While this version of the claim doesn’t necessarily explicitly attribute all of this decrease to Labour, it is potentially misleading because it fails to acknowledge that the vast majority of the closures took place under the previous government.
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle confirmed earlier this year that there were 213 hotels in use in July 2024, meaning that in its first year in office the Labour government actually reduced the number of hotels by a net of three—a point some broadcasters including BBC Breakfast and Sky News Breakfast have made in interviews with ministers.
Sky News corrected its article after Full Fact got in touch. When we asked the BBC about the Today programme bulletin on Wednesday, it did not offer an official comment, but Full Fact understands future bulletins on this issue will be worded differently.
Mr Brand told Full Fact that the government had been “vague” on this issue, and noted that ITV had reflected the fact that the majority of the decrease took place under the Conservatives elsewhere in its reporting.
We’ve contacted the Home Office, the Guardian and Ms Dean for comment, and will update this fact check if we hear back.
Last week we reported that after being contacted by Full Fact, former Downing Street communications director and host of The Rest Is Politics podcast Alastair Campbell had corrected a claim he made about Labour having cut the number of asylum hotels “in half”.
Selective or misleading use of official information without appropriate context and caveats can damage public trust in both official information and politicians. MPs should use official information transparently and with all relevant context and caveats when a claim is first made, and quickly rectify oversights when they occur.
Our Government Tracker will continue to monitor progress on Labour’s manifesto commitment to end the use of asylum hotels.