Migrant hotels told some residents may be criminals

Asylum hotels have been told by the Home Office they could have to house foreign criminals as public anger against the scheme grows across the nation. Protests against migrant hotels swept the country this weekend with large demonstrations in London, Norwich, the West Midlands,Liverpool and elsewhere.

Police were out in force in several areas as protesters against the use of hotels were met with counter-protests organised by Stand Up to Racism. Official figures released earlier this month showed that 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.

Latest statistics show there were 32,059 asylum seekers in UK hotels by the end of June. Now the Telegraph reports Home Office documents show firms running the hotels have been asked to "acknowledge and agree" that some residents may be "ex-foreign national offender[s] released on criminal bail".

The advice continued informing hotels some staff who will have contact with the migrants must undergo annual "unconscious bias" and "ethnic diversity and cultural awareness" training.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage,told the Telegraph: "At last we're beginning to learn the truth that has been withheld from us for so long. No wonder local residents are deeply fearful of the young men in these hotels. In my opinion, none of them should be free to walk the streets.

"The Government tries to hide the truth from us all the time, but piece by piece - as with this story - we are beginning to learn the full story, we are beginning to learn the full scale of the horror."

Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure over the small boats crisis after protests continued outside asylum hotels and a poll suggested voters thought he was failing to grip the problem.

The Prime Minister and his Government have set out measures to speed up the asylum appeals system to aid the removal of people with no right to be in the UK.

But Labour former home secretary Lord Blunkett said the Government had so far failed to offer a "comprehensive answer or an understandable narrative" on tackling the crisis.

So far this year, a record 28,076 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats, 46% more than in the same period in 2024.

A Home Office spokesman told the Telegraph: "This guidance was produced under the previous government and reflects the conditions of the asylum estate as they stood in 2019.

"The current Government is working in partnership with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns about the inherited asylum system including their safety, while successfully removing 5,200 foreign national offenders in its first year - a 14 per cent increase."

Express.co.uk have approached the Home Office for comment.