A minister has suggested that Labour has one year to shut hotels for asylum seekers before Reform clobbers them.

One minister, whose seat Nigel Farage’s party come in second place in at the election, said Labour was not yet getting the “blame” for the small boats crisis but warned “it’s still a big issue”.

The minister said the key for the Government would be clearing the asylum backlog, which would allow an end to the practice of using hotels to house asylum seekers.

The minister said: “We need to close asylum hotels. People here are still very much blaming the Tories

 but I think we need to close the hotels as soon as possible because it’s such an easy target for the far right,” the minister said.

“I think we have a year. If we don’t then it will help Reform, no doubt.”

But reports last week suggested that Home Office officials’ assumption that it could stop using hotels within a year was over optimistic and that it could take three times longer to empty hotels of asylum seekers because the backlog was taking significantly longer to clear than Labour expected.

Speaking to the i newspaper, the minister said that if it was going to take longer the Government should focus on the “most visible hotels”, while also demonstrating fairness in the system, for example by following through on promises that more failed asylum seekers would be returned to their home countries, while delivering on the economy.

They said: “Labour voters want fairness.”

“Many felt it was unfair that they were struggling while asylum seekers had an ‘easy life’ in hotels with ‘all bills paid’.

“If we deliver on improving things for them it wouldn’t be as much of an issue.

“People don’t want to smash the system with full bellies and warm houses and a holiday booked to Spain.”

A Home Office source said it did not “recognise” the three-year timescale for clearing the asylum backlog and stressed that asylum decision-making has picked up following a pre-election slump.