The government is planning a significant overhaul of the asylum appeals system to tackle long delays and reduce the number of asylum seekers staying in hotels. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said a new panel of independent adjudicators will speed up asylum appeals, which currently take over a year on average.

With 32,000 asylum seekers still in hotels and 51,000 appeal cases pending, ministers say quicker rulings will cut costs and ease tensions. But the Refugee Council warns that many appeals succeed because the initial asylum decisions were flawed, stressing the need to “get it right first time.” Protests across the UK highlight growing public frustration over asylum hotels and delays.