Labour’s election manifesto could not have been any clearer.

The party would, it promised, “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”.

Thirteen months on, and that ambition seems as far away as ever.

New figures released on Thursday by the Home Office show that the number of asylum seekers in hotels has gone up by 8% from 29,585 to 32,059 over the past year.

The exact number of hotels being used has not been released, but it is understood to be around 210 – roughly the same number as when Labour came to power, albeit well down on the peak of more than 400 under the Tories.

However, it is another set of statistics which will really worry Labour chiefs.

The total number of asylum applications in the year to June hit a record high of 111,084, driven largely by the soa

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