Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has defended Kemi Badenoch’s call for Conservative councils to consider legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
In a letter to Tory councils, Mrs Badenoch said she was “encouraging” them to “take the same steps” as Epping Council, “if your legal advice supports it”.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning (21 August), Mr Philp said councils didn’t need to take such action when the Conservatives were in power, as the party had been “getting hotel numbers down”.
New Home Office data shows the number of asylum seekers in hotels has gone down from 32,345 in March this year to 32,059 in June 2025. Numbers peaked at the end of September 2023, when 56,042 asylum seekers were in hotels.
