A Reform UK councillor has issued a stark warning 200,000 asylum seekers could be living “at the taxpayer’s expense” in Britain. Councillor for Datchet, Horton, and Wraysbury, David Buckley accused Labour of “massaging the figures” when it comes to asylum claims.

This comes after a shocking analysis revealed that British taxpayers are paying for more than 50,000 asylum seekers to stay in hotels. This is the highest the asylum appeals backlog has ever been, despite Rachel Reeves vowing to close every migrant hotel by July 2029. Government figures show that, as of March, there were 50,976 outstanding appeals, with more than 30,000 of those people remaining in asylum hotels.

Reform UK’s David Buckley accused Labour of ‘massaging the figures’ when it comes to asylum claims (Image: Getty)

This is nearly double compared with last year and seven times higher than 2023.

Speaking to GB News the councillor said: “I remember statistics in 2023 of 150,000 asylum seekers waiting for processing, and they were only processing at 15,000 a year then, and that would have taken ten years to process the people that are already here, let alone the number that have come since that time.

“So I think there’s a lot of massaging the figures by the Government. I do not believe the figures. The 50,000 on appeal, plus at least 150,000 that have not even gone through the process yet, you’re looking at over 200,000 people, maybe a lot more, who are living at taxpayer’s expense.”

He added that housing migrants in hotels has been an ongoing problem in his patch and, just two weeks ago, asylum seekers were removed from a hotel in Datchet for the second time. He warned the issue is likely to affect his patch again.

He said: “This is the second time they’ve been in the Datchet Hotel. Previously under the Conservative leadership and now by the Labour leadership

“It is something that has affected us and may affect us again.”

The average time taken for a claim to be heard by the courts is now 54 weeks, the first time it has exceeded a year, according to The Times.

Colin Yeo, an immigration barrister, is warning that the time frame is likely to become even longer as the 54 weeks refer to cases that ­entered the system back in 2024 when the appeals backlog was 27,133.

The latest official figures show more than 40,600 people have come to the UK via small boats since Labour came to power.

Oer 1,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Friday and Saturday, bringing the total so far this year to 18,400, which is 45 per cent higher than last year.