Asylum backlog

The Government’s claim to have cleared the asylum backlog raises more questions than it answers. To begin with, ministers are talking about so-called “legacy” cases – some 90,000 applications made before June 28 2022 when new border laws came into effect.

What has happened to these claimants? Two thirds were actually accepted as genuine asylum seekers and allowed to stay in the country, which challenges the received narrative that the great majority are economic migrants.

But what of the other third: have they been removed and if not when will they be? It is estimated that some 17,000 applications have been withdrawn, taken out of the system because the Home Office has lost touch with the claimants. Clearing a backlog is pointless if people judged to be playing the system are simply allowed to stay.

James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said the Government’s commitment had been to “processing”, not completing all the applications but this is a semantic distinction that will be lost on most voters.

Moreover, there are still around 100,000 applications outstanding from people who have arrived since June 2022, many of them on small boats across the Channel. How long will it take to process these? Asked that question, Mr Cleverly said it was “impossible” to say.

The country will obviously welcome the increased activity by the Home Office. In one four-week period recently, there were 20,481 initial asylum decisions made – more than in the whole of 2021. But we might ask why it was not done sooner. Above all, why can no timescale be put on dealing with the applications still to be resolved?