British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed yesterday to have fulfilled his promise to reduce the backlog of asylum applications, although the opposition and humanitarian organizations have questioned the numbers. In an article published in the Daily Express tabloid, the leader of the Conservative Party states that “ 112,000 cases that clogged the system were resolved”, attributing the result to “relentless action to combat illegal migration over the last year”.
According to Sunak, in a four-week period, from 20 November to 17 December 2023, 20,481 “initial asylum decisions” were made, more than in the entire year 2021.
Last year, the British chief executive promised to resolve around 92,000 pending requests prior to June 28, 2022, when new rules were introduced by the end of 2023, as part of a crisis due to the lack of facilities to accommodate these potential refugees. Although the prime minister claims he met the target, the main opposition party accused him of manipulating the numbers.
Labor Party immigration spokesman Stephen Kinnock said backlogs currently stood at 165,000, including old and new cases.
Kinnock claims that around 100,000 people whose claims were lodged after June 2022 are still in the system and many of them remain housed in hotels.
The Government itself acknowledged, a few weeks ago, that it had lost track of 17,000 asylum seekers, of whom the Labor MP says it is uncertain “whether they presented their applications again or whether they disappeared into the parallel economy”.
The executive president of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, acknowledged that “progress has been made, but it is misleading for the Government to claim that the delay in resolving asylum requests has been eliminated, as there are thousands of people who continue to wait for a decision”.
Rishi Sunak has made combating illegal immigration one of his priorities, notably through the controversial deportation program to Rwanda, which was blocked by the British Supreme Court.
On Monday, the Government announced that the total number of migrants arriving irregularly in small boats across the English Channel (between France and England) fell by 36% in 2023 to 29,437 people, according to a provisional estimate .