The then-Conservative-run Home Office granted an incredible 67,978 asylum applications. This represented a fall in the ‘grant rate,’ but a tripling of the actual number of migrants told they could stay.
These figures thoroughly undermine criticism of the new Labour administration from the opposition Conservative Party, which was in government through the whole period that they cover.
They also send what Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control think tank, described as “a very clear message that if [migrants] can break into Britain, they are more than likely going to be allowed to stay.”
Bates told The European Conservative that “those awarded asylum are often done so on the most spurious of grounds and after having snuck into our country via illegal means.”
He added that, to make matters worse, “Labour now plans to push these individuals to the front of social housing lists, and will be bending over backwards to accommodate them. Communities across the UK will suffer.”
We are splurging billions each year on this swamped system and it’s the British taxpayer [who’s] having to pick up the tab. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of British pensioners are worried about their winter-fuel allowance being cut, families are struggling to make ends meet, and the government is planning tax hikes. It is sickening.
After spending just under two months in office, Labour announced plans in July to fast-track the processing of more than 100,000 asylum applications, which is an early indication that the number of claims being granted is unlikely to fall far over the next year, and could increase further still.
Official figures have also today revealed that 1.16 million migrants were granted long-term visas for work, study or family reasons in the year ending June 2024. Tory leadership candidate and former home secretary James Cleverly hailed the broken-down numbers as a sign of his success in a post on Twitter/X, to much mockery.
