Reform UK could take Government to court to stop migrants being housed in Doncaster

Zia Yusuf told the BBC his party had pledged to "resist" housing asylum seekers in Reform-controlled areas and it would use "every instrument of power available", including judicial reviews, to fulfil its pledge.

The Home Office is responsible for housing adult asylum seekers and while councils can object, they have little power to stop it.

Reform gained more than 600 seats and took control of 10 local authorities in Thursday's local elections – including Doncaster, where they racked up 37 seats.

Asked how Reform could fulfil its pledge to voters, given that contracts to house asylum seekers in hotels were drawn up between the Home Office and accommodation providers, Yusuf said the party was "realistic" about the challenge.

"The levers of power at a local level pale in comparison to the levers of power at Westminster," he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

But he said "those levers of power will be pulled with all our might by Reform councillors," adding: "There are things you can do, there are judicial reviews, there are injunctions... things around planning, budget allocation."

He told Laura Kuenssberg: "A lot of these hotels... you suddenly turn them into something else which is essentially a hostel that falls foul of any number of regulations - that's what our teams of lawyers are exploring at the moment."

Asked if Reform UK's policy was to house migrants in tents, as the party's newly elected Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns suggested, Yusuf said: "That's what France does."

He added: "We will be publishing a plan to deport everybody who is currently in this country illegally in our first term of government.

"We will publish that plan in the coming weeks and you'll see the full detail."

The government says it is determined to end the use of asylum hotels over time and cut the "unacceptably high" costs of accommodation.

But figures from March show almost 40,000 migrants are still housed in hotels.

In his Laura Kuenssberg interview, Zia Yusuf also said that Reform councillors "will cut waste", and will target spending on diversity and inclusion initiatives.

He said Reform UK will "send teams in, task forces" and that "we're now going to have access to the contracts and we're going to make these changes."