Rishi Sunak engulfed by row over ‘false’ asylum statistics as 100,000 migrants nonetheless caught in backlog

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Rishi Sunak has been accused of making an attempt to “cook dinner the books” and a “barefaced lie” after he claimed to have cleared the asylum backlog regardless of figures exhibiting almost 100,000 migrants nonetheless ready for a call.

The house secretary additionally appeared to compound the prime minister’s woes on a troublesome first day again after the New Yr break, saying it was “inconceivable” to forecast how lengthy it might take to take care of excellent circumstances.

The federal government mentioned it had met Mr Sunak’s pledge to clear all so-called legacy asylum claims – counted as these submitted earlier than June 2022. However official statistics confirmed 4,500 of these circumstances are ongoing.

Mr Sunak additionally got here below fireplace for suggesting the federal government had cleared your entire backlog as figures confirmed 98,599 asylum claims nonetheless languishing within the system.

Shadow immigration minister Steven Kinnock accused the PM of selling a “barefaced lie” that was “an insult to the general public’s intelligence”.

Politicians and charities additionally criticised ministers for eradicating, or “withdrawing”, some 17,000 asylum claims, with the Refugee Council saying the Residence Workplace had “misplaced monitor” of the failed asylum seekers.

It got here as:

The brand new figures, launched on Tuesday, present the federal government made 35,000 “non-substantive” selections in 2023 – up from 13,093 in 2022 – which incorporates functions which might be withdrawn, void or paused and due to this fact faraway from the official backlog.

Purposes could be withdrawn for causes reminiscent of failing to attend interviews or appointments, and never filling in new “fast-track” questionnaires. This will occur with out the asylum seeker’s consent – even when it has been unable to contact them and doesn’t know the place they’re.

Labour’s shadow dwelling secretary Yvette Cooper hit out on the Residence Workplace for having “no thought the place these individuals are”.

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, mentioned the Residence Workplace had “misplaced monitor of too many individuals who’ve been faraway from the asylum course of… prone to sleeping tough throughout the winter months.” 

And MP Scott Benton, who had the Tory whip eliminated over a lobbying scandal, wrote on X: “Having a de facto amnesty the place you merely approve the vast majority of functions as ‘real’, and 17,000 folks operating off by no means to be seen once more, doesn’t rely as lowering the asylum backlog.”

Mr Sunak made his pledge to clear round 92,000 asylum claims by the tip of final 12 months as a part of a plan to grip the migrant disaster. Choices have been made in 86,800 circumstances with evaluations ongoing within the remaining 4,500.

Mr Sunak later tweeted: “I mentioned that this authorities would clear the backlog of asylum selections by the tip of 2023. That’s precisely what we’ve completed.”

Inside hours No 10 was pressured to disclaim it had been “incorrect” of the prime minister to assert the backlog had been cleared.

However the declare was denounced as “false” by opposition events, marketing campaign teams and even Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Tory bible, the Spectator journal, who likened the tweet to that of a “snake oil salesman” and urged the PM’s social media staff to take the row “as a lesson discovered”.

Twitter additionally weighed in on the talk – with an “added context” word put onto Mr Sunak’s tweet concerning the “cleared backlog”, which mentioned: “The backlog has not been cleared”.

Mr Cleverly defended the remaining circumstances, saying they have been complicated and that it was truthful to rely them as cleared as a result of they’re being checked out. However he added that it was “inconceivable” to say how lengthy they might take to course of.

However Mr Cleverly and the federal government have been criticised over claims that they had massaged the figures.

Because the row deepened, charities accused the federal government of working a “smoke and mirrors coverage” of withdrawing claims to artificially shrink the backlog. Residence Workplace officers have beforehand admitted that they don’t know the whereabouts of those asylum seekers.

CEO of Care4Calais, Steve Smith, mentioned the federal government was making an attempt to “cook dinner the books”. He mentioned: “They determined to create a so-called ‘legacy backlog’ to set a political goal and it has not been met”

“With no plan for onward lodging for ‘new refugees’, and with many individuals’s asylum claims erroneously withdrawn because of authorities errors, our volunteers are dealing each day with asylum seekers left on the UK’s streets.”

Marketing campaign group Migrant Voice criticised the federal government’s “smoke and mirrors coverage of withdrawing claims.

Jon Featonby, of the Refugee Council, mentioned that of the 98,000 circumstances nonetheless ready on a call, 33,085 had been made after the passing of the Unlawful Migration Act, leaving them probably prone to being despatched to Rwanda.

“However there’s no manner wherever close to that variety of folks could be despatched. So the overwhelming majority would simply find yourself in everlasting limbo,” he added.

Lib Dem Residence Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael mentioned: “As soon as once more, the Conservative Authorities are celebrating one thing that frankly isn’t any achievement. All Rishi Sunak has managed right here is to course of asylum claims that ought to have been sorted years in the past. The fact is that 99,000 folks within the asylum backlog – caught in limbo and caught in a system that simply is just not working.”

New information exhibits that the federal government have additionally processed round 25,300 newer asylum claims, along with the legacy circumstances, taking the full variety of selections made prior to now 12 months to over 112,000, the very best determine in twenty years. Of those, 67 per cent have been granted asylum.

The information additionally confirmed that the legacy backlog was drastically lower in the previous couple of months of final 12 months. There have been 33,253 selections left to make in October, however this fell to 4,537 by 28 December.

The overall asylum backlog now stands at 98,599. It is a lower on file excessive ranges in early 2023, when the backlog stood at almost 140,000, however it’s nonetheless traditionally excessive. In March 2020, the backlog stood at 40,000 and in 2013 the backlog was down at 9,500.

The Residence Workplace additionally revealed that 348 lodges have been nonetheless getting used to deal with asylum seekers in December, a slight lower on 398 in October.