After a summer recess dominated by headlines about Reform UK's hardline immigration proposals and protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, the home secretary returned to parliament seeking to wrest back control of the narrative. Yvette Cooper has announced a flurry of tough asylum measures including suspending refugee family reunion applications, and even floated the idea that refugees could be moved out of hotels and into warehouses instead.
We've obviously got to move forward in relation to closing the hotels and also stopping the crossings. The government always has the burden of doing what's possible and the government is doing the right thing in relation to it, but there's a lot more to do, and if we don't, as a government, do it, then you'll see those opinion polls raised yet further for Reform, because they don't have the burden of having to be practical.
The government is planning an overhaul of the asylum appeals system, as it tries to cut the number of migrants staying in hotels while they await a ruling. A new, independent body will be established, staffed by independent adjudicators, with the aim of hearing cases more quickly. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said she was taking practical steps to end unacceptable delays. The government has been under increasing pressure to reduce its reliance on asylum hotels. It now wants to regain the initiative. Ministers have pledged to end hotel use in this parliament - but 32,000 asylum seekers are still housed in them.
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