Anti-migrant protests persisted across Britain on Sunday outside hotels housing asylum seekers, a day after police separated demonstrators and counter-protesters in several cities as tensions over immigration policies grew.
Immigration has become the public’s top concern in polls, adding pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government to deliver on its promise to end the costly reliance on hotels, which runs into billions of pounds each year.
Recent weeks have seen regular protests outside hotels, fuelled partly by concerns about safety after a migrant housed east of London was charged with sexual assault. On Sunday, demonstrations took place in Epping, Bristol and Birmingham.
A court ruling last week ordered the removal of asylum seekers from a hotel in Epping, a site that has become a flashpoint for anti-immigration protests. The government has appealed the decision. Protesters gathered again there on Sunday, waving flags and holding placards reading “Epping says no” and “Stop the boats.”
Smaller anti-immigration rallies were also held on Saturday across towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales.
Official figures released on Thursday showed asylum claims have reached record levels, with more migrants in hotels compared with a year earlier.
Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party which has topped recent voting intention polls, told The Times he would pursue mass deportations if elected, including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, striking repatriation deals with states such as Afghanistan and Eritrea, and creating holding sites for 24,000 migrants.
On Sunday, the Labour government announced reforms to the asylum appeals process aimed at cutting delays, reducing the backlog of 106,000 cases, and phasing out hotel use. Under the plan, an independent adjudicators’ body would be created to handle appeals.
Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said the system had been left in “complete chaos” by the previous government and pledged to restore control. “We cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays,” she said.
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