LONDON: Britain is grappling with its highest-ever number of asylum applications, official data showed Thursday, as a political storm brews over the temporary housing of thousands of migrants in hotels.
Immigration is a thorny issue in the UK, where Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is struggling to stem rising support for a hard-right party led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage.
His Reform UK campaigners are tapping into anger over record numbers of undocumented migrants making the dangerous crossing the Channel from France to England small boats.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, according to figures released by the Home Office, the UK’s interior ministry.
That was the highest for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Farage said Britain’s “streets are becoming more dangerous yet this disaster gets worse”. The government has insisted it is “restoring order” to the asylum system.
“We have strengthened Britain’s visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper.
The statistics showed that while asylum claims are up, officials are processing those applications faster than before as they seek to clear a backlog.
At the end of June, some 91,000 people were awaiting a decision, down 24 percent on the previous year, the Home Office said.