Not returning asylum seekers to Manvers Holiday Inn hotel in Rotherham is the right move but questions remain over migrant crisis

It is not sustainable to house what are often vulnerable people in hotels, not for the public purse, not for local communities and certainly not for asylum seekers themselves.

Net migration to the UK hit a higher than previously thought record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023. The measure for the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country then dropped by 20 per cent in the latest period, the 12 months to June 2024, and now stands at 728,000.

It has led to the inevitable finger pointing between Labour and the Conservatives. But that does not bring us any nearer to the solutions required to dealing with the issue.

Thus far it has spent time dismantling the failed Tory projects such as Bibby Stockholm and the costly non-starter that was the Rwanda plan.

The question is what the Labour Government intends to propose as a long-term solution to the migrant crisis.

The Government doesn’t just need to deal with the migrant crisis in a sensible, grown-up manner, but it also needs to seize the narrative around the issue.

Provocateurs stand ready to capitalise on heightened tensions over migration. We saw first-hand how that can boil over and lead to violence.

More than 60 police officers were hurt and the hotel so badly damaged it had to be taken out of use after demonstrations denigrated into violence.

Those scenes were deeply disturbing and there is no excusing that sort of violence. But it highlights the need for the Government to get a grip on this crisis and the narrative around it.