Fact check: Fake Portsmouth protest images and asylum hotels pledgeRound-up of fact checks from the last few days compiled by Full Fact.The Stanwell hotel in Staines, Surrey, that has been used to house asylum seekers. (Jonathan Brady/PA)PA WireFull Fact Via6 minutes ago
This round-up of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s independent fact checking charity which works to give people access to reliable information they can trust.
Fake images of Portsmouth small boats protest shared online
Two images which have been shared on social media alongside posts about a recent protest in Portsmouth are fake.
Hundreds of protesters are reported to have blocked roads after around 140 migrants were brought ashore to a ferry port in Eastney on Sunday.
The migrants were reported to have attempted to cross the English Channel in a single small boat launched from the Normandy coast in France — much further west than where small boat crossings typically take place. After arriving in the UK, they were transported by coach from Portsmouth to Kent, where small boat arrivals are processed.
Genuine images and footage of the protests have been published by the media. But we’ve seen at least two social media posts sharing images that are AI-generated.
One of the images shows a crowd of people, some of whom are carrying flags, surrounded by police officers. Another shows masked men dressed all in black in the water on a beach, with one of the men carrying a large flag that reads “PATRIOTIC PLATFORM Portsmouth: Day 2 – WE’LL DO WHAT THEY WON’T”.
Both images contain a SynthID — an invisible watermark that indicates they were created or edited using AI tools. And there are also a number of inconsistencies in the images that suggest they are fake.
In the first image, the faces of some of the people in the crowd appear blurred. And in the background the base of the Spinnaker Tower — a Portsmouth landmark — is painted blue, when in reality it is painted entirely white.
In the second image, a sign displayed on the beach features text that is gibberish, which is often a clue that an image is AI-generated, and the faces of some people shown in a dinghy are blurred.
In addition, neither image appears to match the location where the recent protests took place.
While a few commenting on the images appear to have realised they are AI, others seem to have taken the posts at face value. Before sharing content like this, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy source. Full Fact’s misinformation toolkit contains tips on how to do this, as does our guide to spotting AI fakes.
Tracking the government’s pledge to stop using asylum hotels
In its 2024 general election manifesto, Labour pledged to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”.
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We’re monitoring the government’s progress in delivering this pledge via our Government Tracker — a major ongoing project which is now tracking the delivery of 94 key Labour pledges.
Asylum seekers (people awaiting a decision on an asylum application) who are destitute can apply to receive support from the government, including accommodation. People who apply for asylum support are housed in initial accommodation while their application is considered, and if their application for asylum support is granted, they are placed in dispersal accommodation until a final decision is made on their asylum claim.
Due to an increase in the number of asylum seekers receiving support in recent years, the government has had to use ‘contingency’ asylum accommodation in order to meet its obligation to provide housing for those who require it. This has primarily involved the use of hotels, although some asylum seekers have been housed in other types of contingency accommodation, including the Bibby Stockholm barge and in former military barracks.
Labour did not originally set out a specific timeframe to achieve this pledge. But in June 2025, then-chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the government intended to end “the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament”.
We’re currently rating this pledge as “in progress”, because according to the latest available data, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels is approximately 46% lower than just before Labour entered government.
Quarterly Home Office data shows that at the end of June 2026 there were 16,021 asylum seekers housed in hotels (approximately 17% of all those in receipt of support). That’s down from 20,885 at the end of March 2026, and 29,561 in June 2024.
The number of hotels used for this purpose has also decreased. As of August 2026 the government said “fewer than 160” hotels were being used to house asylum seekers, compared to 213 in July 2024.
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