What is behind the row over asylum hotels?

140,000 applicants are waiting to learn their future but the home secretary wants to speed up the process, says Sean O’Grady

Asylum-seekers protesting outside a Home Office hotel (AFP via Getty Images)

Britain’s asylum process is in the spotlight once more, as The Independent reveals applicants cannot be told their status until they are out of ad-hoc hotel accommodation.

Why are asylum seekers living in hotels?

The government pleads it is because of the sheer weight of numbers now arriving in small boats – though to some extent it merely represents a switch from the previous flow of arrivals in the back of lorries and vans.