The government’s target for closing all asylum hotels by 2029 is not soon enough. Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper need to think imaginatively of ways to clear the backlog of asylum claims more quickly.
Fortunately, the Refugee Council, a charity, has done some of the thinking for them – and has come up with a plan that could enable the prime minister and the home secretary to close all 200 asylum hotels within the next year. This scheme would grant time-limited leave, with security checks, to people from countries from which applicants are almost certain to be accepted as refugees.
