Latest news with #DavidBolt
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Stop panicking about asylum hotels, Sir Keir. I've got the perfect solution
Three years ago, Ron DeSantis – the Republican governor of Florida – decided that he was sick of his state being deluged by asylum seekers. And he was even more sick of being lectured by rich liberals who were always loudly supportive of mass immigration, while living in neighbourhoods that were largely untouched by its downsides. So he came up with a little idea. He assembled a group of asylum seekers who'd arrived in Florida, and kindly arranged for them all to receive one-way flights to Martha's Vineyard: a fashionable part of New England that is home to lots of rich liberal celebrities. You may be astonished to learn that, in liberal circles, Mr DeSantis's plan was met with horrified fury. Not, of course, because these liberals don't like asylum seekers, and were appalled by the prospect of having to share their beautiful neighbourhoods with them. It was merely because they felt it was callous and inhumane of Mr DeSantis to use vulnerable people as pawns in a cynical political game. That was all. Important to make that clear. Anyway, there's a reason I bring this story up. Here in Britain, our Labour Government has got itself into a bit of bother. Earlier this month, it pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029. But now David Bolt, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, has said: 'I don't think it will be achieved, frankly.' Luckily for Labour, I'm here to save the day. As we know, asylum hotels are, for some mysterious reason, almost always found in areas that are home to people who are not very well-off, and unhappy about mass immigration. Yet strangely few are found in areas that are home to people who are well-off, and love mass immigration. So why not take a leaf from Mr DeSantis's book? Remove all the asylum seekers from their hotels – and instead put them up in places that are full of rich liberals. Branches of Soho House, say, or BBC headquarters. Admittedly this might take some time to arrange. So, for this weekend at least, the Government could just bus them all into the Glastonbury festival. A perfect solution that will please everyone. It's just a wonder that Labour didn't think of it sooner. Nigel versus the Nats I don't know how many Telegraph readers also take The National, the newspaper that, in the proud words of its masthead, 'supports an independent Scotland'. But for those who weren't lucky enough to get hold of yesterday's extraordinary edition, here's what you missed. On its front page were two stories. And both were about Nigel Farage's Reform UK. The main story was headlined: 'BBC Called Out Over Question Time Slot for Reform Man.' And its opening sentence was: 'The BBC's decision to platform Reform UK in Scotland when the Right-wing party has no elected members has been branded 'bizarre'.' The other story, however, was headed: 'Poll Suggests Farage's Party Would Gain First Scottish MPs.' This was followed by the alarmed subhead: 'Our analysis finds Reform would also take second place in 16 constituencies and third in a staggering 37.' So, to summarise: Reform is an overhyped electoral irrelevance that doesn't deserve any airtime in Scotland, because it's so pathetically unpopular there. Yet it's also an existential threat to everything Scotland holds dear, because it's so terrifyingly popular there. This presents us with a profound philosophical conundrum. Because it would seem that Mr Farage has created the political equivalent of Schrödinger's cat. A party that's simultaneously both dead and alive. He's achieved some remarkable things in his career, but this surely trumps the lot.
Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
End of hotels for asylum seekers unrealistic, borders chief says
Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to 'smash the gangs' is the wrong way to tackle the small boats crisis and his pledge to end the use of migrant hotels by the next election is unlikely to be achieved, the head of the borders watchdog has warned. David Bolt, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, told peers he had written to ministers warning that he 'wasn't convinced smashing the gangs was the right way of thinking about things' in tackling Channel crossings. Bolt also said there was not enough housing stock to deal with the number of people in the asylum system. His comments came a fortnight after Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced the government's new pledge to stop using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers by the end of the current parliament — expected in 2029 — as part of her spending review earlier this month.
The Independent
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Border watchdog says Reeves' pledge to scrap asylum hotels will fail
UK borders watchdog David Bolt warned that Rachel Reeves ' pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029 will likely fail. Bolt attributed this anticipated failure to a critical lack of sufficient housing stock to accommodate the large number of people in the asylum system. He also expressed skepticism about the government's ability to "smash the gangs" involved in channel crossings, noting the low risk and high profitability of organised immigration crime. Bolt suggested the challenge was changing the risk-reward ratio for perpetrators and addressing factors like illegal working that attract people to the UK. The warning comes as channel crossings have reached a record high for this point in the year, with over 18,000 arrivals so far in 2025.
The Independent
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Asylum hotels will be in use for years, borders watchdog warns – leaving Reeves' pledge in tatters
Rachel Reeves will fail to meet her flagship pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029, the UK's borders watchdog has warned. David Bolt told a committee of peers there was not enough housing stock to deal with the number of people in the system – as he also questioned the government 's ability to achieve Keir Starmer 's promise to 'smash the gangs'. Ms Reeves has said her plan to end the use of hotels, by cutting the asylum backlog, hearing more appeal cases and returning people to their home countries, would save £1bn a year. Asked by members of the House of Lords what the challenges would be to achieve the chancellor 's aim, Mr Bolt replied: 'I don't think it will be achieved, frankly.' He said: 'The numbers within asylum system (are) not very tractable, they're very large numbers and it's very hard to see how they're going to be reduced significantly even over the length of Parliament.' He added despite the Home Office appearing to be going in a different direction with getting more local authorities engaged in asylum housing: 'I think there's a more fundamental issue about accommodation, or at least housing stock, there simply isn't sufficient housing stock to be able to deal with the sorts of numbers in the system. 'I think it's really, really challenging.' Mr Bolt, who previously served borders watchdog between 2015 and 2021, and returned as interim chief inspector in June last year, also told peers he wrote to ministers to say he 'wasn't convinced smashing the gangs was the right way of thinking about things' in tackling Channel crossings. He said: 'It did seem to me the challenge was to change the risk reward ratio for those people involved in organised immigration crime, that's really a difficult thing to achieve, because it's relatively low cost, relatively low risk for the perpetrators and highly profitable. 'I'm not sure I feel very optimistic about the ability to smash the gangs and, in any event, it seems to me with organised crime, the best thing you can do is deflect it to something else you're less concerned about rather than expect to eradicate it.' But he also agreed more needed to be done to tackle the issue in the UK and look at what is attracting people to come to the country. Mr Bolt said: 'The availability of illegal working, that I think is one of the issues the Home Office has tried to focus on and tried to close down as best it can and will continue to have to work very hard on that.' It comes after shadow home secretary Chris Philp posted a message on X on Tuesday saying he made an unannounced visit to an asylum hotel last Friday and found 'clear evidence' of illegal working for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats. A Downing Street spokesman said border security minister Dame Angela Eagle will meet food delivery companies next week, adding that the Government will not stand for the 'racket'. Home Office figures show just 299 migrants made the journey to the UK by crossing the English Channel in 2018. This year so far, more than 18,000 migrants have arrived via the Channel, in a record for this point in the year since data collection began in 2018. The highest year of total arrivals on record was 2022, at 45,774.
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Labour plan to 'smash the gangs' and end asylum hotels will FAIL, borders watchdog warns
The borders watchdog has said he is 'not convinced' Labour 's plan to 'smash the gangs' will end the Channel crisis, and predicted ministers will fail to end use of asylum hotels by end of this Parliament. Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt said he had written to ministers to express his doubts about the plan. Labour scrapped the previous Tory government's Rwanda asylum scheme within days of taking office last July and said they would tackle small boats by increasing law enforcement action against people traffickers. But Mr Bolt told a House of Lords committee today: 'I did write to ministers to say that I wasn't convinced that smashing the gangs was the right way of thinking about things. 'It did seem to me that the challenge was to change the 'risk/reward ratio' for those people that are involved in organised immigration crime, and that is really quite a difficult thing to achieve because it's relatively low cost, relatively low risk for the perpetrators and highly profitable. 'So I'm not sure I feel very optimistic about the ability to smash the gangs. 'In any event, with serious organised crime the best can do is deflect it to something else which you are less concerned about rather than expect to eradicate it.' Mr Bolt was formerly responsible for tackling organised immigration crime at the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the forerunner to the National Crime Agency. Pointing to the availability of illegal work in Britain, he said: 'There is more that needs to be done in relation to the UK end of this problem.' On Labour's pledge to end use of asylum hotels by July 2029, Mr Bolt said numbers of asylum seekers are 'really challenging' and highlighted a national shortage of alternative housing stock. 'I don't think it will be achievable, frankly,' he told peers. 'There are very large numbers and it's very hard to see how they will be reduced significantly even over the length of the parliament.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said she will end the use of hotels by the end of the Parliament in 2029. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in her spending review two weeks ago that cutting small boat crossings – along with building new government-owned asylum accommodation – would save £1billion a year. Latest Home Office figures show there are about 32,000 asylum seekers in hotels in the UK. Peers on the justice and home affairs committee also heard that 'soft' criteria are being applied by the Home Office's new digital borders system and only 'small numbers' of foreign nationals are being refused entry. Mr Bolt raised concerns about the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme – which gives non-visa nationals permission to enter the UK if they complete a simple electronic form and pay a small fee. He said the inspectorate may need to look at 'whether there are individuals who pose some risk who should not be granted an ETA in the first place'.
