The number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has halved in the past year as the Home Office pushes to close down the controversial accommodation, new figures have revealed. Small boat crossings to the UK have also fallen by 23 per cent year-on-year, mirroring similar trends across Europe. Government figures released on Thursday show that there were 16,000 asylum seekers living in Home Office hotels in June this year, down 50 per cent on a year earlier. Ministers continue to shut down hotels housing asylum seekers as part of a move to using larger sites, such as former military barracks. Asylum seekers are also being moved into homes of multiple occupancy (HMOs).Earlier this month, the Home Office closed Statford-upon-Avon’s grade II-listed Grosvenor Hotel and the Grand Metropole Hotel on Blackpool Promenade, one of the town’s two oldest hotels. There are now fewer than 160 hotels in use by the Home Office - down from a peak of nearly 400 under the Conservatives. The Grand Metropole Hotel in Blackpool is now longer being used to house asylum seekers (zergo512/CC BY-SA 3.0)In total, there were 93,000 people in receipt of asylum support in June, meaning they are either living in government accommodation such as hotels or shared houses or receiving financial help. This is 12 per cent lower than last year. The number of people coming to the UK for work, study and to join family is also falling, following restrictions introduced by the Conservative and Labour governments. 235,000 work visas were granted in the year to June 2026, down 18 per cent on the past year. Study visas are down 11 per cent year-on-year to 383,000, and family visas are down 19 per cent to 58,000. Responding to Thursday’s figures, Emily Graham, policy associate at think tank The Future Governance Forum, said prime minister Andy Burnham needed to “accelerate plans to deliver an asylum system that is orderly, safe and fair”, adding: “That means scaling up co-operation with France and other European partners to reduce small boat crossings by diverting and deterring migrants from dangerous journeys, and clearing the asylum backlogs to get people out of hotels in months not years.”This is a breaking story. More to follow....