Immigration woes UN refugee rules made UK an ‘attractive destination’ for asylum seekers

New Labour’s attempts to tackle immigration were partly thwarted by a UN protocol that meant the UK was deemed an “attractive destination” for asylum seekers, internal memos suggest.

Sir David Omand, the Home Office permanent secretary, said the 1951 Refugee Convention, which says refugees should not be sent back to a country where they face serious threats to their safety, and the “generous reception” given to people from the former Yugoslavia were partly to blame. His concern was contained in a memo sent to Sir Richard Wilson, the Cabinet secretary, in March 2000.

Home Office figures showed there were 6,680 asylum applications that month. In his memo, from the latest tranche of declassified Cabinet files released by the National Archives in Kew, Sir David wrote: “We have a situation where the UK is an attractive destination for asylum seekers, not least because of the interpretation of the 1951 Convention by our courts.

“Our generous reception of Kosovars and Albanians, for the best reasons, has not helped.”