Almost all those who arrived on a small boat in last year still waiting for asylum decision from Home Office, figures show

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10 months ago

August 22, 2024

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Almost all small boat arrivals who claimed asylum in the UK over the last year are still waiting for a decision from the Home Office, figures show.

In the year ending June 2024, the Home Office said 99% of all the people arriving in small boats had an asylum claim recorded either as a main applicant or as a dependant.

However, the figures show that 96% of asylum applications made by people arriving in small boats in that period are undecided.

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In addition, 31% of small boat arrivals since 2018 – or 33,224 people – are still waiting for an asylum decision.

Immigration minister Seema Malhotra said the figures show the “chaos the Tories left in our immigration and asylum system”.

Tories blamed for asylum backlog

In a statement, Ms Malhotra said: “Despite the hundreds of millions pumped into the Rwanda partnership, small boat crossings for the first half of this year went up by almost 20%.

“The asylum backlog has soared, costing the taxpayer billions. And the removal of foreign national offenders has dropped 20% since 2010.

“After 14 years, their record is one of failure and damaged public confidence.”

Home Office data from January to June this year showed the number of small boat arrivals was 18% higher than the same period in 2023, before starting to lower.

Ms Malhotra said the Labour government “will be different” and touted the government’s Border Security Command as well as its new returns programme.

“We can’t solve these problems overnight,” she added, “but we have already started work to deliver an immigration and asylum system that is controlled, managed, and works for Britain.”

It comes as the former head of the UK’s Border Force Tony Smith said Labour’s plan to increase detention capacity is unlikely to stop small boat crossings and the “only real solution” is a deal with the EU.

Home Office says crossings dropped

The Home Office also released data showing that in the 12 months to June 2024, 31,493 people arrived by small boats, 29% fewer than the 44,460 who made crossings by June 2023.

They found the number of “irregular arrivals” also fell in the same period: 38,784 people were detected by June this year – a 26% drop from 2023.

Sky News calculates small boat crossings differently, using the cumulative total of people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats by year.

Based on Sky News analysis of Home Office and PA figures from the start of the year to 21 August, the number of small boat crossings has actually risen.

The UK has seen 19,294 crossings as of Wednesday, whereas 18,618 crossings were recorded by 21 August 2023, making for an increase of 676.

Nonetheless, shadow home secretary and former minister James Cleverly credited a drop in crossings to the previous Conservative government.

He said on social media: “When I said I was going to cut migration, I meant it. Visas down, small boat arrivals down, cut the backlog & cut the asylum grant rate.

“It’s not about words, it’s about delivery.”

Drop in health and care visas

Legal migration also fell in the year ending in June 2024: The Home Office reported there were 286,382 visas granted to main applicants in all work categories, 11% less than in the year before.

The biggest drop was seen in Health and Care Worker visas, where 89,095 were granted for a 26% drop compared to the year up to June 2024.

Fewer sponsored study visas were also granted – at 432,225, making for 13% less than the year ending June 2023 – while 3% more temporary worker visas were approved.

Mr Cleverly claimed in an interview that under the previous government, the UK had seen several people arriving on Health and Care Worker visas that “didn’t stay in the sector”.

“It was being used as a backdoor to our immigration system: that is wrong,” he said.

Trump’s crypto agenda is rigged for the rich

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2 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Trump’s crypto agenda is rigged for the rich

Donald Trump’s crypto agenda claims to champion financial freedom, but in reality, it consolidates power among political elites and wealthy investors, sidelining everyday users.

Zebec buys compliance firm Gatenox ahead of MiCA, FCA regulatory push

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6 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch to launch review into ECHR exit

Published

8 hours ago

June 5, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch to launch review into ECHR exit

Kemi Badenoch is to launch a review into whether the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – and set out plans to revive a Rwanda-style deportation scheme.

In a speech on Friday, the Conservative leader will announce a commission into how lawyers could be prevented from using international legislation to block government decisions on immigration.

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She will also announce plans to prevent people who arrive by small boat from claiming asylum and deport them to a third country.

It is unclear if this would be Rwanda or another location.

One of Labour’s first acts in government was to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda scheme, which would have deported illegal immigrations to the African nation for them to claim asylum there.

The plan was held up by a series of legal challenges and ultimately failed to get off the ground before the election, despite around £700m being spent on it, according to the Home Office.

The saga sparked a debate within the Tory party about whether the UK would need to leave the ECHR, which was established after the Second World War and sets out the rights and freedoms of people in the 46 countries signed up to it.

During the Conservative leadership race, Ms Badenoch said leaving the ECHR wasn’t a “silver bullet” and “not even the most radical thing that we probably will have to do” to control immigration.

It put her at odds with her rival Robert Jenrick, now the shadow justice secretary, who claimed the Tories would “die” if they did not back exiting the ECHR.

Ms Badenoch’s commission will be chaired by Tory peer and former justice minister Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, the shadow attorney general.

A Conservative Party aide close to the detail said: “Kemi has worked hard to bring the shadow cabinet together on this very difficult issue.

“She has always said she will take her time to build a proper, workable plan to tackle the issue of the courts subverting parliamentary democracy. This commission, led by the brilliant lawyer Lord Wolfson, will make sure we’re ready to take the tough decisions.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the polls since the general election, has also said he would leave the ECHR.

Labour’s policy is to remain in it, but to bring forward legislation to “ensure it is the government and parliament that decides who should have the right to remain in the UK”.

According to the immigration white paper unveiled last month, this would address cases where Article 8 right to family life legal arguments have been used to frustrate deportation, often in the case of foreign criminals.

Article 8 was also used in the case of a Palestinian family fleeing Gaza after they applied to enter the UK through a Ukrainian refugee scheme.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday that family migration has become “so complex” that courts are applying “exceptional” human rights guarantees to about a third of cases.

She said: “The proportion of decisions being taken as exceptional – often under interpretations around Article 8 – end up being about 30 percent of the cases. That is not exceptional, that is a much broader proportion.”

However, she rejected calls to disapply the ECHR, saying compliance with international law has helped the government strike deals with France and Germany to help crack down on criminal gangs.

She said the government will draw up a “clear framework” that will be “much easier for the courts to interpret and will reflect what the public want to see”.