Minister repeats incorrect claim about asylum hotel use under Labour

In the House of Commons last month, parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Wales Office, Anna McMorrin MP, said Labour had “halved” or “nearly halved” the use of asylum hotels since entering government.

But this isn’t right. The number of asylum hotels in use has not halved since July 2024—it decreased by three in Labour’s first year in government. Nor has it halved the number of asylum seekers in them. This has actually increased since Labour came to power.

The number of asylum hotels in use peaked at “over 400 in summer 2023”, under the previous Conservative government, and had fallen to 213 in July 2024, when Labour won the general election. A year later, in July 2025, 210 asylum hotels were in use—a net decrease of three under Labour.

Ms McMorrin’s claim is similar to others we’ve heard from Labour politicians in recent months.

The government does not routinely publish information on the number of hotels being used as contingency accommodation for asylum seekers, and has recently said it doesn’t provide a “running commentary” on these numbers, so precise figures on hotels in use at specific points in time are not always available.

Home Office data also shows the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels increased by 8% between the end of June 2024 (just before Labour formed a government) and the end of June 2025.

Our Government Tracker has more information about the number of asylum seekers in hotel accommodation, and we’re monitoring Labour’s progress towards its commitment to ending the use of asylum hotels.

Ministers should correct false or misleading claims made in Parliament as soon as possible in keeping with the Ministerial Code which states that they should correct ‘any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity’. We’ve written to Ms McMorrin asking her to correct the record, and will update this article if we receive a response.