POLL: Should all migrant hotels be shut? Vote now

Protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers have taken place across the country over the last few weeks - but do you think they should all be shut? Outcry over taxpayer-funded accommodation for asylum seekers reached fever pitch last week when Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a 38-year-old migrant living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, was charged with sexual assaultafter allegedly trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl, which he denies.

Policing has been ramped up in response to protests in Essex, Norfolk and London in the weeks since, with four men charged with violent disorder outside the Epping hotel. Over 30 Metropolitan Police officers were stationed outside the four-star Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf on Tuesday night as people protested against plans to house migrants there. The Government has pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylumseekers by the end of this Parliament in 2029, but a spending watchdog warned that progress on bringing down immigration costs remained "slow" and could hit £15.3 billion over a 10-year period.

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Over 32,000 asylum seekers are currently living in hotels across the UK, with a further 66,683 in houses and flats, according to Home Office data.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged £200 million towards "cutting the asylum backlog, hearing more appeal cases and returning people who have no right to be here" in the June Spending Review, and ministers say hotel use will be tackled through cutting small boat crossings and investing in new Government-owned accommodation.

A report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) warned that the costs of supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Britain would continue to absorb a "significant portion" of Britain's £8.9 billion budget for overseas spending in 2027/28, however.

It also comes amid increasing pressure on the Government to guarantee public safety after it emerged that over 300 asylum seekers, across 70 hotels, had been charged with criminal offences, including rape. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the public was "rightly sick of this illegal immigrant crime wave".

Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson said the Government took any allegations of sexual assault "extremely seriously" and would change the law to prevent those convicted of sexual offences from being granted asylum.