Home secretary Yvette Cooper is set to highlight record success tackling people smugglers as the Government has faced growing pressure this summer to tackle the surge in small boats and usage of hotels to house asylum seekers.
As MPs return to Westminster for the first time since July, the senior minister will outline reforms to the border security and “broken” asylum system to eventually end the use of asylum hotels which has drawn widespread protests over the summer.
Actions to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the asylum system are “putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels”, she will declare.
“That means ensuring we have the powers we need to pursue the criminal smuggling gangs profiting from small boat crossings that other parties have voted against, but also new firm rules in place to manage the asylum system so we can close hotels.”
Protests have taken place across the UK in response to the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, after an asylum seeker housed in the Bell Hotel in Epping was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month. He has denied the charges.
Ms Cooper will also set out planned changes to the refugee family reunion process to give “greater fairness and balance” and claim that the Government’s promise to “smash the gangs” behind English Channel crossings are showing results in stopping people arriving in the first place.
She will also relay that the National Crime Agency (NCA) led 347 disruptions of immigration crime networks in 2024/25, including 56 of the highest-impact disruptions. This is the highest level on record and a 40 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
Meanwhile, NCA-backed efforts in Europe have squeezed the supply of boats and engines destined for the French coast, with 45 dinghies seized in operations at the Bulgarian border in July and August.
Officials believe that contributed the lowest number of boats crossing the Channel in the month of August since 2019, with 55 making the crossing, according to the latest figures.
The 3,567 arrivals in August was the lowest since 2021, but the 29,003 across the whole of 2025 so far is the highest on record for this point in a year.
Ms Cooper will respond to Reform UK, who have promised mass deportations if they get into power, as well as the Tories who want to revive the Rhwanda scheme, by emphasising the “complex challenges” afoot that “require sustainable and workable solutions, not fantasy promises which can’t be delivered.”
She will say the UK has a “proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution” but the system “needs to be properly controlled and managed, so the rules are respected and enforced, and so governments, not criminal gangs, decide who comes to the UK”.
Already, the Home Office has announced measures over the summer, including the detention of the first migrants under the “one in, one out” deal with France. The first deportations back across the Channel are set to take place in the coming weeks.
Ms Cooper will update MPs on reforms to the asylum appeals process which are intended to reduce the backlog and ease the pressure on accommodation.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has dismissed Ms Cooper’s intervention as a “desperate distraction tactic” as he accused the Government of losing control and becoming “engulfed in a fully fledged borders crisis”.
“The simple fact is this year so far has been the worst in history with 29,000 illegal immigrants crossing the channel,” he added. “Labour’s first year in office also saw the number of illegal immigrants in asylum hotels go up, despite having fallen by half in the nine months before the election.
“Labour’s first year also saw the highest number of asylum claims in history.”
