James Cleverly MP said Labour is increasing asylum accommodation

The comments came amid concern about unrest outside a hotel in Epping used to house asylum seekers.

The Home Office has also informed Braintree District Council it plans to temporarily increase the capacity of Wethersfield Asylum Reception Centre to 1,245 beds.

Mr Cleverly made the claims on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. 

He said: “[Labour] are opening up asylum hotels, they are increasing the use of asylum accommodation around the country.”

Mr Cleverly was appointed shadow housing secretary as Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch reshuffled her top team last week.

In his first full day in the job, Mr Cleverly accused the Prime Minister of being more interested in finding accommodation for asylum seekers than “hardworking young people”.

Appointment - Mr Cleverly returned to the front bench after being appointed shadow housing secretary last week (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire) Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact checking charity, said it is true that under Labour the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has increased, though data also suggests the number of hotels currently in use is slightly lower than when Labour first came into office.

According to the latest available government data, 32,345 asylum seekers were housed in hotels at the end of March 2025. This was an increase from 29,585 at the end of June 2024, just before Labour came into office.

The data also showed there were 71,339 asylum seekers living in other types of non-hotel accommodation at the end of March 2025, compared with 67,057 at the end of June 2024.

Graph - The latest available government data comparing asylum seekers in types of accommodation from June 2024 against March 2025 (Image: Flourish Studio) This means more than twice as many asylum seekers were living in other types of non-hotel accommodation at the end of March 2025 than in hotels.

The majority were in “dispersal accommodation” which is a longer-term temporary accommodation managed by providers on behalf of the Home Office. Others were housed in “initial accommodation”, which is typically shared accommodation while an asylum seeker is having their claim for support assessed.

PA News Agency reports as of July 23, the Home Office said there are 210 asylum hotels currently in use and they expected more to close. On March 3, 2025, Dame Angela Eagle MP, minister for border security and asylum, said as of July 2024 there were 213 hotels in operation.

This suggests the number of hotels currently in use is slightly lower than when Labour first came into office.

However, while the overall number of hotels in use appears to have decreased, there have been recent reports of new hotels potentially being intended to house asylum seekers.

Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact checking charity, said it’s possible this is what Mr Cleverly meant when he said Labour was “opening up” hotels.