UK sees record number of asylum applications: Govt data
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Migrants waiting for a smuggler's boat on the beach of Gravelines, in northern France, to attempt crossing the English Channel on Aug 11.
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – Britain has received a record number of asylum applications, official data showed on Aug 21, as the government faces growing pressure over the housing of thousands of migrants in hotels.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, according to figures released by the interior ministry, or Home Office.
That was the highest for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Immigration is a thorny issue in Britain, where Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is struggling to fend off the hard-right Reform UK party led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage.
The upstarts are piling pressure on Labour over accommodating asylum seekers in hotels, a practice that hit peak levels under the previous centre-right Conservative party.
The Home Office data showed that 32,059 migrants were staying in hotels at the end of June, an 8 per cent increase from the same month in 2024, just before Mr Starmer became prime minister.
But it was well below the high of 56,042, recorded at the end of September 2023.
Mr Starmer is facing heat over his failure to stop irregular migrants from crossing the English Channel to England on rudimentary small boats.
More than 50,000 people have made the dangerous journey since he became UK leader in July 2024.
Aug 21’s data showed that irregular arrivals soared 27 per cent on the previous year, with 88 per cent of those coming by small boats. AFP
