Our asylum failure

Number of rejected claimants UK kicks out hits record low as backlog nears 27,000

REMOVAL of failed asylum seekers has sunk to a record low – adding to concerns Britain is failing to get a grip on its borders.

The number has plunged by two-thirds since 2010, when the Tories came to power.

The latest figures will be an embarrassment for Prime Minister Theresa May, who vowed during six years as Home Secretary to tackle the growing problem.

At the end of December last year there was a backlog of nearly 27,000 failed asylum seekers who were deemed ‘subject to removal action’, the Home Office figures showed. But fewer than 3,500 were deported in 2016.

Critics said the damning statistics showed too many illegal immigrants were ‘playing the system’.

Experts have warned that the number officially awaiting removal is just the tip of the iceberg. The Migration Watch think-tank estimates there are up to 1.1million living in the UK illegally.

The figures will further erode public confidence in a failing asylum system. Yvette Cooper, Labour chairman of the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘This is a big drop in asylum enforcement at the same time as asylum delays have gone up. If rules are not implemented and properly enforced in a fair and timely way then it undermines confidence in the whole system.

‘Yet it seems to be getting worse. The Government needs to explain why this is still happening and why it hasn’t been sorted out.’

Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who also sits on the committee, said: ‘These figures reinforce the problem that there are still too many people in the country illegally and who are playing the system in order to evade deportation. If we are serious about reducing net immigration numbers and making sure that we welcome those to the UK who have most to contribute, we need to up our game in saying goodbye more speedily to those who have abused our hospitality in the first place.’

The data released by the Home Office, going back to 2004, showed that last year only 3,446 failed asylum seekers were removed from Britain. This compared with 18,220 in 2006 when Labour was in power and 10,394 when the Tory-led Coalition came to power in 2010.

Yet in 2016 alone, a total of 21,059 claims for sanctuary were refused – meaning they were eligible for being kicked out immediately.

The Government says the total number of those ‘ subject to removal action’ is 26,879.

But this does not count thousands who are embroiled in appeals against rejection – some often launched as they are being put on a plane home.

Two years ago, it was claimed that a staggering half a million failed asylum seekers were in Britain indefinitely because Government cuts meant cash-strapped immigration courts could not afford to hear their appeal cases.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake said: ‘It is shocking that this Government and the Home Office cannot even do the basics.

‘They are an utter shambles. This is another thing to add to Theresa May’s record of failure.’

A major cause of delay in removals of failed asylum seekers is bureaucratic. Many refugees have fled their countries without a valid travel document, or destroyed their passport, meaning it can be difficult to prove their nationality and deport them.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We have made it more difficult for people to remain in the UK illegally by incentivising voluntary returns, introducing tougher penalties for illegal working and restricting illegal migrants’ access to services.’

‘An utter shambles’