Labour promises to end use of hotels for asylum seekers and clear case backlog

Published

2 years ago

September 15, 2023

admin

Labour has promised to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers if it gets into power at the next election.

Outlining its latest policy pledges, the party said it would also clear the growing backlog of asylum cases and speed up the return of those who fail to meet the threshold.

As a result of its measures, Labour claimed long-standing facilities for housing asylum applicants – with space for 58,000 people – would be sufficient, meaning not only would hotels becomes redundant, but so would barges and military sites.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Tory chaos at our borders and in the asylum system is costing taxpayers billions and must come to an end. All we have had from this government is gimmicks not grip.

“Labour has a serious plan to end the government’s wasteful spending on hotels and return people who have no right to be here.”

Figures from the Home Office at the end of August showed more than 51,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels, costing around £6m per day, while the full bill for the accommodation in the last financial year was £2.28bn.

The backlog of asylum claims in the UK hit a record high in the same month, with a total of 175,457 people waiting for an initial decision on their application – up 44% from 2022 and the highest figure since records began in 2010.

Of those, 139,961 had been waiting more than six months – a 57% increase from last year and another record high.

Labour plans to tackle these figures by hiring over 1,000 new caseworkers for the Home Office, with increased pay to “improve productivity”, and recruiting 1,000 staff to man a new returns unit, with fast-track decisions on applications from safe countries processed “within weeks”.

It would also create so-called Nightingale courts – echoing the pop-up facilities brought in post-COVID – to speed up any legal challenges to asylum decisions and ensure removals are processed.

This latest announcement comes after the party received a mixed response to its plan to strike a new returns agreement with the EU to tackle migration figures.

Labour confirmed it could accept a quota of migrants to get a deal over the line as it sought “management and control of the system” after the Conservatives had “lost control of our borders”.

But Tory critics thrashed the announcement, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claiming it would see the UK accept 100,000 migrants from the EU every year – although he did not say how he had calculated the figure.

Mr Sunak has made tackling illegal migration – especially when it comes to small boat crossings of the Channel – one of his five priorities in government, backing measures such as deporting some migrants to Rwanda and housing people on barges.

But both schemes have hit barriers, with Rwanda flights caught up in the courts and an outbreak of Legionella disease on the Bibby Stockholm vessel.

But the prime minister has repeatedly defended the government’s progress, saying: “We’ve already reduced the legacy backlog by over 28,000 – nearly a third – since the start of December and we remain on track to meet our target.”

Politics

US Fed pulls guidance blocking its banks from engaging with crypto

Published

6 hours ago

December 18, 2025

admin

US Fed pulls guidance blocking its banks from engaging with crypto

The US Federal Reserve has withdrawn a 2023 guidance that limited how Fed-supervised banks, including uninsured ones, engaged with crypto, as US regulators continue to pivot positively toward digital assets.

The 2023 guidance required uninsured banks to follow the same rules as federally insured institutions, based on the principle that similar activities pose similar risks and should be subject to identical regulation.

This prevented uninsured banks from engaging in activities that weren’t permitted for national banks, like crypto services, which automatically disqualified Fed membership because the institution’s primary activities weren’t allowed.

Fed says financial system has evolved since 2023

The Fed said a key reason for withdrawing the guidance was that it was outdated and “the financial system and the Board’s understanding of innovative products and services have evolved.”

“As a result, the 2023 policy statement is no longer appropriate and has been withdrawn,” it said.

Caitlin Long, the CEO of the crypto‑focused Custodia Bank, applauded the move in an X post on Wednesday, explaining the 2023 guidance was why her institution’s application for a master account was previously denied.

A master account with the Fed enables a financial institution to hold balances directly with the US central bank and access its core payment systems, allowing for payment settlement in central bank money rather than relying on another bank as an intermediary.

“The Fed broke the law by citing this very guidance in the Custodia denial, even tho the guidance hadn’t become official yet, that didn’t happen until Feb 2023,” Long said.

“But most of that team is now gone or out of power at the Fed. Nature is healing. Thank you VCS Bowman & Gov Waller!” she added.

New guidance to boost bank innovation

The move on Wednesday came as the Federal Reserve issued new guidance to establish a formal pathway for both insured and uninsured Federal Reserve-supervised state member banks to pursue “innovative activities,” such as cryptocurrencies, provided risk-management expectations are met, according to a statement on Wednesday by the Fed.

Fed vice chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said that by “creating a pathway for responsible, innovative products and services, the Board is helping ensure that the banking sector remains safe and sound while also modern, efficient, and effective.”

Fed decision wasn’t unanimous

Fed Governor Michael Barr dissented to the decision, arguing that the principle of equal treatment among banks helps maintain a level playing field and prevents regulatory arbitrage.

“This principle continues to hold true today. Therefore, I cannot agree to rescind the current policy statement and adopt a new one that would, in effect, encourage regulatory arbitrage, undermine a level playing field, and promote incentives misaligned with maintaining financial stability. I dissent,” he said.

Barr has been accused of being linked to Operation Chokepoint 2.0, a federal effort to debank crypto companies. However, he was also previously an adviser at Ripple and has pushed for responsible stablecoin regulation.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom