Overview

• Government data show Channel small‑boat arrivals have hit a record this year at roughly 28,000, about 46% higher than the same period in 2024.
• A YouGov poll reported by The Times found 71% of voters think the prime minister is handling the asylum‑hotel issue badly, with 37% naming immigration and asylum as the top national concern.
• A High Court injunction ordered the removal of up to 138 asylum seekers from the Bell Hotel in Epping, and protests and counter‑protests at hotels across the UK over the bank holiday weekend led to several arrests.
• The government outlined plans to replace immigration tribunal judges with a new panel of adjudicators to speed decisions, targeting a backlog of about 51,000 asylum appeals that often take more than a year.
• The Home Office signalled at least five further hotel closures by year‑end and a larger wave next year, as Reform UK readies a hardline deportation plan that includes leaving the ECHR.