UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a historic number of over 112,000 asylum claims were cleared last year, exceeding his target of 92,000. The total includes finalizing over 77,000 cases with 51,469 claims granted asylum. This figure surpasses the previous record of 33,460 in 2002 and is the highest number since record-keeping began in 1984. Sunak claimed that clearing the asylum claim backlog will save taxpayers millions of pounds on hotels and reduce strain on public services.
The Prime Minister’s announcement received backlash from political opponents. “In an effort to rush through the asylum backlog, this morning Rishi Sunak boasts he has granted 50,000 new applications,” said former Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage. “The Conservatives have failed us all.”
Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock denounced the Prime Minister’s claims as false, asserting the backlog has soared to 165,000 under the current government, and accusing the Chancellor of breaking his promise to end asylum hotel use. “Rishi Sunak’s promise made a year ago to end asylum hotel use has been disastrously broken – with a 20 per cent increase to 56,000, costing the British taxpayer more than £2billion a year,” Kinnock noted. “This is yet more evidence of an asylum system broken by the Conservatives.”
