Politics latest news: Number of asylum seekers removed from UK drops by half

The number of rejected asylum seekers and foreign offenders being removed from the UK has nearly halved in seven years, Home Office figures show.

The data revealed the number of enforced and voluntary returns from the UK were down from 40,000 in 2016 to 24,000 last year.

This comes despite a two-thirds increase in the past year in such removals which cover all foreign nationals who have been refused a right to remain in the UK

It follows Home Office data, published last month, which showed only one per cent of migrants who have arrived in small boats since 2020 have been deported, according to the figures.

The Home Office has returned 1,182 of the 111,833 migrants who have crossed the Channel over the past three years, according to information given to the Commons home affairs ­committee.

Even among Albanian migrants, who are easier to remove due to the country being deemed safe in UK law, 95 per cent of arrivals have not been ­removed.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, tweeted: “Returns of failed asylum seekers are down 50 per cent compared to the last Labour Government. Only five per cent of Albanians who came on small boats to the UK have been returned. £400m on the failing Rwanda plan and no-one sent.”

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04:00 PM GMT

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03:24 PM GMT

More than 33,000 migrants face deportation to Rwanda

More than 33,000 migrants face deportation to Rwanda if flights get off the ground, Home Office figures revealed today.

Some 33,085 applications for asylum have been lodged since Rishi Sunak’s “Stop the Boats” legislation became an Act in July, giving ministers powers to detain any illegal migrants and deport them to a safe third country such as Rwanda.

It means they are liable under the legislation to have their applications declared “inadmissible” and face deportation to Rwanda where they will have to claim asylum.

You can read the full story here.

02:56 PM GMT

Champagne sales in House of Lords reach highest level in five years at £90,000

Champagne sales in the House of Lords rose to the highest level for five years last year, with almost £90,000 worth of fizz sold.

A total of 1,589 bottles were bought at a cost of £88,987.90, Freedom of Information figures show.

The cost is up slightly from the previous year, when 1,580 bottles were sold at a cost of £85,462.51.

You can read the full story here.

02:35 PM GMT

Junior doctor strikes hurting efforts to reduce NHS backlog, says No10

Junior doctor strike action is hindering the Government’s efforts to reduce the NHS treatment backlog, No10 said.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “With so many operations having to be rescheduled as a result of strike action, we know that is having an effect on our ability to tackle that backlog, we have made progress in stopping some of the longest waits we’ve seen and that work continues, but as the Prime Minister and others have set out, it is obviously a significant factor having continued strike action.”

Junior doctors are set to walk out at 7am tomorrow for six consecutive days, returning to work at 7am on Jan 9, during what is typically the busiest week of the year for the NHS.

02:05 PM GMT

'We are willing to have further discussions'

The Government is willing to have further discussions to prevent junior doctors going on strike tomorrow, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “We have sought to come to a fair resolution, fair for the tax payer, fair for hard working doctors and health workers. We have achieved that in the majority of cases.

“As the Health and Care Secretary [Victoria Atkins] made clear, we are willing to have further discussions, but obviously the first thing to do is to stop striking.”

02:01 PM GMT

Number of asylum seekers removed from UK drops by half

The number of rejected asylum seekers and foreign offenders being removed from the UK has nearly halved in seven years, Home Office figures show.

The data revealed the number of enforced and voluntary returns from the UK were down from 40,000 in 2016 to 24,000 last year, writes Charles Hymas.

This comes despite a two-thirds increase in the past year in such removals which cover all foreign nationals who have been refused a right to remain in the UK

It follows Home Office data, published last month, which showed only one per cent of migrants who have arrived in small boats since 2020 have been deported. , according to the figures.

The Home Office has returned 1,182 of the 111,833 migrants who have crossed the Channel over the past three years, according to information given to the Commons home affairs ­committee.

Even among Albanian migrants, who are easier to remove due to the country being deemed safe in UK law, 95 per cent of arrivals have not been ­removed.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, tweeted: “Returns of failed asylum seekers are down 50 per cent compared to the last Labour Government. Only five per cent of Albanians who came on small boats to the UK have been returned. £400m on the failing Rwanda plan and no-one sent.”

01:40 PM GMT

Check your payslip to make sure NI cut goes through, says No10

No10 suggested employees should check their payslips this month to make sure they have benefited from a cut to National Insurance.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, announced the cut at the Autumn Statement in November and said it would take effect from January 6.

But there have been concerns that some companies could struggle to enact the change in time.

Asked if Rishi Sunak would recommend employees looking at their payslips this month, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman: “I think we would encourage that generally, to check that you are being paid what you are owed and that you are receiving any tax reductions.”

01:10 PM GMT

Rwanda Bill returning to Commons this month

The Rwanda Bill - the legislation which the Government is hoping will pave the way for deportation flights to finally get off the ground - will return to the House of Commons this month, Downing Street said.

The Bill cleared its first hurdle in the Commons in December but dozens of Tory MPs abstained and said they could vote against it in the new year if it was not strengthened.

Asked when the legislation will return, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “As ever I will leave it to the Leader of the House [Penny Mordaunt] to set out the timings but my understanding is it will return this month but I will leave it to her to set out the exact date.”

12:37 PM GMT

'Wrong' to claim bad weather behind fall in Channel crossings, says No10

Downing Street said bad weather was not the reason for a significant fall in small boat Channel crossings in 2023.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “I think as ever with small boats we are always alive to seasonal effects. But I think given the substantive and sustained decline it is wrong to claim that this big reduction, 36 per cent reduction, is down to poor weather.

“And in fact that assertion is not backed up by the facts. The number of good sailing days [last year] was only four fewer than the previous year.”

12:21 PM GMT

No10 refuses to back Cleverly's 2024 small boats target

Downing Street said Rishi Sunak will not set a deadline for delivering on his pledge to stop the boats despite James Cleverly saying it is his target to bring the number of crossings down to zero this year.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said Mr Sunak and the Home Secretary were united in wanting to stop the crossings. But the spokesman would not repeat Mr Cleverly’s target (see the post below at 09.14).

The spokesman said: “The Prime Minister, the Home Secretary are united in wanting to stop the boats entirely.”

Pushed on the 2024 target, the spokesman said the PM wanted to “stop the boats as soon as possible” but he would not “set out a deadline”.

Asked what his target was for crossings this year, the Home Secretary told LBC Radio this morning:  “Well, my target is to bring it down to zero. I mean, I’m completely committed…”

Asked if he was referring specifically to 2024: “That’s my target. My target is to reduce it to zero, to stop the boats. And I’m unambiguous about that.”

11:56 AM GMT

Home Office hits asylum hotel target early

The Home Office said this morning that it had hit its goal of closing 50 asylum hotels early.

Ministers announced at the end of October that the Government would reduce the number of the hotels by 50 by the end of January.

The department said this morning that “the target has already been met”.

11:29 AM GMT

Yvette Cooper tells Rishi Sunak to ‘stop the… boasts’

Yvette Cooper said the Government’s claim to have delivered on Rishi Sunak’s pledge to clear the “legacy” asylum backlog was “just not true”.

The shadow home secretary pointed out that 4,500 of the “legacy” cases had not been resolved.

Ms Cooper accused ministers of breaking numerous promises on migration and claimed they offered “gimmicks instead of grip”.

She tweeted: “Failing to stop criminal gangs undermining border security, failing to clear backlog, end hotel use, implement returns or properly manage asylum system. With a record of failure like that, Rishi Sunak should stop the… boasts.”

Ms Cooper made the comments in a lengthy Twitter thread published this morning, starting here:

11:10 AM GMT

Total asylum backlog now under 100,000

The total number of asylum applications awaiting a decision at the end of 2023 stood at just under 100,000, according to official Home Office figures.

The overall backlog of applications awaiting a decision, including both legacy (cases older than June 2022) and non-legacy cases, was 98,599, as of December 28.

That number was down 10 per cent from the end of November and down 29 per cent from its recent peak of 139,552 at the end of February 2023.

One asylum application does not always equal one individual, as an application can cover a group of people.

10:47 AM GMT

PM: Tackling asylum backlog ‘key part’ of stop the boats plan

Rishi Sunak said tackling the “legacy” asylum claim backlog was a “key part of our plan to stop the boats”.

The Prime Minister tweeted this morning:

10:23 AM GMT

'It’s impossible to say and I’m not going to make predictions'

It is “impossible” to say how long it will take to get through outstanding asylum cases, the Home Secretary said.

When asked how long it takes to get through 100,000 cases, James Cleverly said: “The point is that it’s impossible to say and I’m not going to make predictions.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Cleverly said: “Last year we processed 112,000 cases, the largest in over 20 years, so again you know you can see the maths.”

He added: “You can see our track record of delivery, we have delivered over 112,000 processes, 112,000 applications this year. You know there are fewer than that left in the system.”

10:05 AM GMT

Labour on ‘off-shoring’: ‘We would consider all options that are available to us’

A Labour government “would consider all options that are available to us” when it comes to processing asylum applications, a frontbencher said this morning, as the party considers going down the route of so-called “off-shoring”.

“Off-shoring” refers to a system which would see people’s applications to come to the UK processed in a third country so that they would only come here if it was granted.

Asked how far the party had got on the idea, Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “All that Keir Starmer said on this was that we would consider all options that are available to us to deal with this issue.

“There are other examples of where processing in other countries, other jurisdictions happens… but there is a difference between processing an application in a third party jurisdiction and offloading asylum seekers to another country.”

09:33 AM GMT

Labour: Government has been ‘slow’ tackling asylum backlog

Labour claimed the Government had been “slow” in both processing asylum claims and in returning people home who have had their applications rejected.

Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “We know that there are still eight times more people in the backlog now compared to when Labour was last in government. It’s not just the processing of the application, it’s then returning asylum seekers who don’t get granted asylum in the UK.

“We know that there’s around 56,000 of those asylum seekers in the UK that need to go home who are waiting in the UK waiting to be returned.

“So the Government’s being slow, not just on processing the applications, but also on returning people home when they’ve not been granted asylum to stay in the UK.”

09:14 AM GMT

Cleverly: 2024 target is to reduce small boat crossings to zero

James Cleverly said he wanted to bring down small boat Channel crossings “to zero” in 2024.

Asked what his target was for crossings this year, the Home Secretary told LBC Radio:  “Well, my target is to bring it down to zero. I mean, I’m completely committed…”

Asked if he was referring specifically to 2024: “That’s my target. My target is to reduce it to zero, to stop the boats. And I’m unambiguous about that.”

09:10 AM GMT

Cleverly: Fall in small boat Channel crossings ‘nothing to do with the weather’

A fall in small boat Channel crossings is “nothing to do with the weather”, James Cleverly said this morning.

Critics have suggested bad weather was a factor in the reduction in crossings in 2023.

But the Home Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “This is nothing to do with the weather, I know this is a convenient way of overlooking the incredible hard work our officials have done with their colleagues across Europe. This is not about the weather.

“In fact, the number of good sailing days this year was only four fewer than the previous year. There were 102 good sailing days this year, 106 sailing days last year so the weather is not a contributory factor.

“The 36 per cent reduction is because of a number of things including cooperation with our European partners, including France, including Albania, including Romania, Germany and others.

“It’s about disrupting the supply chain of engines and boats that used to bring people across the Channel and also it’s about going after the money of these people smugglers and it is about working hard both on the UK border and across Europe.”

08:58 AM GMT

Farage claims Government 'rushed through' asylum backlog

Nigel Farage claimed the Government had “rushed through” the processing of its “legacy” backlog of asylum applications.

The former leader of the Brexit Party claimed the Tories had “failed us all” by granting asylum in more than 50,000 cases.

He tweeted:

08:45 AM GMT

PM hails ‘relentless action’ after 2023 fall in small boat crossings

Rishi Sunak said a 36 per cent fall in small boat Channel crossings in 2023 was the result of “relentless action”.

The Prime Minister pledged in January last year to stop the boats. Crossings in 2023 have been estimated at just under 30,000, down from more than 45,000 in 2022.

Writing in the Daily Express today, Mr Sunak said his plan “is working” and the UK is “defying trends across mainland Europe” where migrant sea crossings have increased.

He said: “That progress is the result of relentless action to tackle illegal migration over the past year. When I set out my blueprint to stop the boats, abolishing the legacy backlog was a key part of it.”

08:31 AM GMT

Home Secretary: Apology over spiking joke was ‘heartfelt’

James Cleverly said his apology for making a date rape joke was “heartfelt” and he “totally” understood why people were upset by his remarks.

The Home Secretary made a joke during a Downing Street reception with journalists about spiking his wife’s drink. It was understood that he was talking off the record but the Sunday Mirror published the details.

Mr Cleverly had already apologised for the comments, which his spokesman said were part of a “private conversation” and “clearly meant to be an ironic joke”.

Asked if he understood why people were upset by the joke, Mr Cleverly told Times Radio this morning: “Totally, totally. I do apologise and that apology was heartfelt.”

08:13 AM GMT

Cleverly rejects critics’ ‘completely wrong’ claim over asylum backlog

James Cleverly rejected a claim from critics that the reason the Government had managed to address the “legacy” backlog of asylum claims was that it had simply opted to approve a large majority of them.

The Home Secretary told Times Radio: “I know some people have said that but it is completely wrong. As I say, the grant rate is down on previous years.

“So we have done it by investing money, by recruiting more people, by streamlining the processes so that now we are processing applications, typically around 10 times faster than previously.”

08:06 AM GMT

Asylum system now ‘much, much, much faster’, says Cleverly

The Government is committed to “absolutely get on top” of processing asylum claims as part of its ongoing efforts to stop small boat Channel crossings, the Home Secretary said this morning.

James Cleverly said the system for processing asylum claims was now “much, much, much faster” than it had been.

Asked what the outcome was of the more than 91,000 “legacy” asylum claims which have been addressed, he told Times Radio: “A significant number of them were granted asylum. Actually, the proportion is smaller than in 2022 or 2021, so the proportion of grants has come down.

“But last year it was about 67 per cent of those people were granted asylum which as I say is down from previous years and now we are working at pace so we have got systems now which are much, much, much faster, so we are working through the asylum applications that are currently also in the system to make sure that we absolutely get on top of this so we can continue closing those hotels that have been housing asylum seekers and we can focus our efforts on what we are absolutely committed to doing which is stopping the boats.”

08:01 AM GMT

Cleverly insists Government has delivered on PM's asylum backlog pledge

James Cleverly has defended the Government over its claim to have delivered on Rishi Sunak’s pledge of clearing a backlog of asylum claims.

The Home Secretary told Times Radio: “Last year we looked at every single one of those cases, so we cleared the backlog, every single one of those cases was addressed. In the vast majority of those cases a final decision was made either to grant or to not grant.

“And where there were complicated circumstances, where there were discrepancies, where we needed to check on age or security or whatever, those are known as complex cases, there are 4,500 of those and we are not going to compromise on our border security or our safety checks for those people.

“But we have cleared that backlog. They have all been processed and in addition to that of course we are still processing the applications that have come in since.”

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