Tories: 'Stealth asylum amnesty'

Asylum backlog: 16,000 deported

Tuesday, 18, Dec 2007 12:00

The government has been accused of operating a stealth asylum amnesty after it emerged just three per cent of a backlog of cases have been deported.

Figures revealed by the government yesterday show 16,000 asylum seekers have been removed since officials began working through a backlog of more than 450,000 "legacy" cases.

A letter from the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) to Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, reveals officials have assessed 52,000 cases.

Of these, 19,000 asylum seekers have been granted leave to remain and 17,000 cases were closed due to duplicate or incorrect records, leaving 16,000 deportations.

Lin Homer, chief executive of the BIA, said the agency was "confident" it was on track to clear the backlog, which was discovered last year by then-home secretary John Reid, by 2011.

The Conservatives poured scorn on the government's progress, claiming a combination of low removal rates and lengthy delays amounted to a "stealth amnesty".

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "After eighteen months effort and on their own numbers the government can still only claim to have removed three per cent of the backlog.

"At this rate it will take decades to remove the backlog, by which time we will have another back log since the government is also failing to meet its target of removing more failed asylum seekers than arrive."

Mr Davis concluded the government was making "policy by incompetence rather than decision".

The Liberal Democrats said the asylum system is failing in every direction, with people that should have been deported being forgotten about and others left in limbo.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Jeremy Browne said: "The government's incompetent handling of the asylum system is wasting taxpayers' money, compromising Britain's international reputation and fuelling public mistrust."

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a fully independent asylum agency, which the party argues would restore "basic competence and humanitarianism" to the system.

Meanwhile, the government has suffered further embarrassment after it emerged one of the 11,000 foreign nationals working illegally was employed at the Home Office.

The Nigerian national had been employed by a sub-contractor to check passes on the front desk of the Home Office.

Jacqui Smith had attempted to diffuse blame for the illegal working fiasco by claiming the onus was on employers to check people's eligibility to work.