Today, Shaun Davies, Member of Parliament for Telford spoke to Radio 4’s Nick Robinson about the Governments progress in clearing the asylum backlog left by the last Conservative government.

Shaun Davies MP, who is a member of the influential Home Affair’s Select Committee told Nick Robinson that the Committee will be launching an investigation into the use of hotels for asylum purposes.

Shaun Davies MP said: “The early signs are very promising, we’re seeing more people being processed and let’s be very clear, the reason people are in hotels in the very first place is because the last Government stopped processing applications. People were being parked in hotels because of that delay.”

“We’re also seeing more people being removed from the country than any time in the last six years.”

“Clearly no one wants people to be in hotels because it’s bad for those individuals but also for the communities. I’ve got a hotel in my own constituency being used for this purpose…its about making sure the system works that those communities get their hotels back.”

The Government inherited a broken asylum system in absolute chaos, with tens of thousands stuck in limbo without any prospect of having their claims processed. At the height of asylum hotel use, the Conservatives had 400 hotels in operation at a cost of almost £9 million a day.

The Government also inherited huge overspend on asylum and immigration costs, and millions wasted on failed accommodation plans at Scampton and Bexhill.

Inevitably, due to the size of the backlog, the Government have been forced to continue with the use of hotels for the time being. But this is not a permanent solution, and the small increase in the number in use at the end of last year was a temporary but necessary step to manage pressures in the system.

It remains Labour’s absolute commitment to end the use of hotels over time, as part of their reduction in overall asylum accommodation costs.