A group of people are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, onboard an RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat, following a small boat incident in the Channel, August 19, 2023
TORY ministers must grant leave to remain to refugees who have waited more than a year for a decision on their asylum claim, campaigners said today after the claims backlog hit record highs.
A whopping 175,457 people were waiting for an initial decision on their asylum applications at the end of June, according to Home Office figures published today – up 44 per cent from the same month last year and the highest figure ever recorded.
And in another record, eight out of 10 claimants – 139,961 people – had been left waiting longer than six months for an initial decision as of early summer, up 57 per cent in a year, the floundering government department admitted.
DIANE ABBOTT warns that Shabana Mahmood’s draconian asylum proposals fuel racist scapegoating and risk demoralising Labour’s base – potentially paving the way for Farage to No 10
Britain’s proud asylum history, from sheltering the Kindertransport escaping Hitler to Basque children fleeing fascist Spain, required tireless campaigning against persistent opposition — and it’s up to all of us to do our part today, writes SABINA PRICE
A recent Immigration Summit heard from Lord Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis to Britain as a child. JAYDEE SEAFORTH reports on his message that we need to increase public empathy with desperate people seeking asylum
