FILE PHOTO: Asylum seekers react as they look out the window at the Cresta Court hotel, as people take part in an anti-immigration demonstration outside the hotel, in Altrincham, Britain, August 8, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) -More than 32,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels in Britain at the end of June 2025 with asylum claims hitting a record, official data showed on Thursday, as the housing issue becomes a major headache for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer's government is facing increasing pressure over housing asylum seekers in hotels after a council won a temporary court injunction earlier this week meaning all the migrants living in one hotel had to be removed.
Figures released by the government showed there had been an 8% increase in the number of migrants being housed in hotels in the year ending June 30.
However, the total figure of just over 32,000 was 43% lower than the peak of 56,042 recorded in September 2023, and slightly down compared to the previous quarterly figures in March.
Starmer has vowed to end the use of hotels to house thousands of asylum seekers before the next election in 2029. A regular tracker of voters' concerns showed immigration has overtaken the economy as the biggest issue.
Thursday's data also showed 111,000 people claimed asylum in the year to June 2025, up 14% from the previous year and surpassing the previous peak of 103,000 recorded in 2002.
Starmer has pledged to stop thousands of migrants arriving in Britain via small boats. More than 27,000 have arrived by that means so far this year.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti and Catarina Demony;Editing by Helen Popper)
