Senior Labour figures urged Yvette Cooper to speed up her timetable to close asylum hotels, after a legal victory to keep one site open left her facing accusations she was siding with migrants over Britons .

The Home Secretary and Somani Hotels on Friday successfully challenged a court ruling that would have stopped 138 asylum seekers being housed at an Essex hotel that has been a magnet for protest.

Cooper will be breathing a sigh of relief as the initial judgment risked throwing the asylum system into chaos, but she was accused by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform leader Nigel Farage of putting the rights of migrants above the British people.

As an exclusive BMG Research poll for The i Paper gave Reform a record 15-point lead – frustration over the small boats crisis f

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