The Home Office failure to deal with asylum applications was directly responsible for its decision to take over Ipswich town centre's largest hotel, Labour's Yvette Cooper has said.

Ms Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, said there had been a total failure to deal adequately with asylum applications that had been building for years.

She was speaking during a visit to Ipswich town centre with party candidate Jack Abbott - and said one of the first acts of an incoming Labour government would be to sort out the bureaucracy that was delaying applications.

She said: "The Home Office only dealt with 14,000 asylum applications last year - that's half the number six years ago but we are still getting people arriving here and they have to be housed while they are being processed.

"Only 4% of those who arrived in the UK last year claiming asylum have had their applications decided - and the others have to be found accommodation."

She argued an incoming Labour government would streamline the application process to ensure that they were dealt with quicker - giving genuine claimants the chance to live and work in the country as part of society.

Ms Cooper said there would also be firmer action against the people-smuggling gangs operating on both sides of the English Channel, with closer cooperation with the French authorities.

She said: "At present, they think they can get away with no danger of prosecution - there has to be tougher action."

In the longer term, she hoped that coordinated law enforcement on both sides of the Channel would reduce the number of people trying to reach the UK on small boats - but her immediate priority would be to speed up the application process to reduce the numbers relying on Home Office support.

Her visit to Ipswich came as the town's Conservative MP Tom Hunt is preparing for a short debate on the Novotel situation in Westminster Hall on Tuesday.

He has been told that the relevant Home Office minister will be attending the debate which will be an opportunity for him to explain the concerns about the town centre's largest hotel being unavailable for business and leisure guests.

However the decision is being challenged in the High Court - Ipswich council is one of a number of local authorities across the country taking legal action after hotel rooms were bought up by the Home Office.