Levelling up ministers have been accused of undermining Government plans to end hotel use for asylum seekers after fresh changes explicitly permitted the controversial practice.

Minister Felicity Buchan wrote to council chiefs this week explaining a new statutory instrument redefines some hotels as bed and breakfast accommodation that can now be used to house homeless asylum seekers from Afghanistan, as well as Ukrainian nationals, until June 2024.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) used the statutory instrument to extend councils' temporary powers to use B&Bs for more than six weeks.

Ms Buchan's letter said that for the purposes of the new rules she had amended the definition of B&B sites to ‘include accommodation in which no cooking facilities are provided (such as hotels) as well as where shared facilities are provided'.

Critics said the new definition seemingly contradicts plans by No10, Home Office and Ministry of Defence to end the use of expensive bridging hotels for asylum seekers, which currently cost £6m per day.

One council chief said: ‘It's odd DLUHC appears to have explicitly extended hotel use for some groups of asylum seekers while other ministers have vowed to end the practice.

'It appears there's not a lot of joined up thinking going on.'