By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
The British government has announced plans to reform the country’s asylum system following nationwide protests at hotels housing migrants.
Authorities said a new independent body will soon be created to speed up appeals for failed asylum applications, a move aimed at reducing court backlogs and ending the controversial use of “asylum hotels”.
The announcement came just days after the Labour government vowed to appeal a court ruling that barred the housing of asylum seekers at a hotel in southeast England. That decision sparked a wave of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations across several cities, including London, Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Aberdeen, and Perth.
In Bristol, mounted police were deployed to separate rival groups as officers clashed with protesters. Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson Keith Smith praised officers for handling what he described as “a really challenging situation,” noting that the protests ended without major incidents. Eleven arrests, however, were made in Liverpool for offences such as assault and disorderly conduct.
The unrest intensified after a man in Epping, southeast England, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at a hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers. Fresh protests were expected on Sunday and Monday, coinciding with a UK public holiday.
According to official figures, more than 32,000 asylum seekers were living in temporary hotel accommodation as of March 2025. Ministers have repeatedly stressed that delays in processing asylum applications and appeals remain the biggest pressure point in the system.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government inherited “a system in complete chaos with a soaring backlog of cases and a broken appeals process.” She pledged to cut delays significantly, adding: “We cannot continue with these completely unacceptable hold-ups that keep people stuck in the system and reliant on asylum hotels”.
