THE RWANDA policy is already deterring asylum seekers from coming to the UK, the Home Secretary insisted as the Prime Minister claimed victory over the asylum backlog.
James Cleverly said this morning asylum seekers arriving in the UK have told the Home Office that others planning on coming “have chosen not to” because of the Rwanda scheme.
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But Rishi Sunak still has a mountain to climb as startling figures lay bare a 98,000-strong remaining asylum backlog and 50,000 illegal migrants still living in taxpayer-funded hotels.
Touring the broadcast studios on Tuesday morning, Mr Cleverly said the Government has “done what we promised” to deal with a backlog of older cases in the asylum system.
This is despite the latest official figures showing that more than 4,500 applications were yet to have even an initial decision taken on them.
Asked about the now-stalled Rwanda deportation scheme, the Home Secretary told Sky News it is part of a “wider plan” but insisted it is already working.
He said: “I am determined to make sure that we stop the boats and stop the boats completely and that means working with international partners, including France, including Albania, including Romania and other countries around Europe.
“It means breaking the business model of those people smugglers, but it also means having a meaningful deterrent.
“And the Rwanda plan is part of that deterrent and we know it’s already having an element of deterrent even before it’s fully up and running because we interview people when they arrive, when they put forward applications for asylum, and they tell us that other people that were planning to come to the UK have chosen not to because of the deterrent effect of Rwanda, and that’s before it’s even fully up and running…
“The point is, once it is up and running, it will have an even stronger deterrent effect. “
The Supreme Court ruled in November that the Rwanda policy was unlawful, with the Prime Minister responding by signing a new treaty with the east African nation and introducing new legislation deeming it a safe country.
The PM faced a tumultuous few weeks before Christmas as different factions within the Tory party threatened to reject his Safety of Rwanda Bill at second reading.
The proposed legislation ended up moving a step closer to becoming law but more opposition from backbenchers is expected during later parliamentary stages.
In January last year, the Prime Minister made stopping the boats one of his five promises to the British people.
He had also pledged to remove the older asylum applications by the end of 2023, tasking the Home Office with tackling the number of so-called “legacy” claims.
But Labour accused the Government of making false claims about meeting the target, with figures suggesting the department had fallen short of the number initially set to reach.
Figures published by the Home Office on Tuesday show that 4,537 legacy applications were still “awaiting an initial decision” as of December 28.
Asked why a press release issued on Monday said its target on legacy cases – those asylum applications made before June 28 2022 – had been met, Mr Cleverly said “it has”.
The Home Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Prime Minister’s commitment had been to “make sure we process” the 92,000 legacy claims.
Mr Cleverly said: “Every single one of those applications has been processed.
“In the vast majority, a final adjudication has been made.
“In a small number – about 4,500 where there are discrepancies, where there are further checks, additional work needs to be done.”
The Home Office has said the 4,500 complex cases typically involve “asylum seekers presenting as children – where age verification is taking place; those with serious medical issues; or those with suspected past convictions, where checks may reveal criminality that would bar asylum”.
The non-legacy backlog of UK asylum cases awaiting an initial decision – covering applications made on or after June 28 2022 – stood at 94,062 on December 28, up 3% from 91,076 on November 30.
The overall backlog of applications awaiting a decision, including both legacy and non-legacy cases, is 98,599: 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.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, the PM said this morning: “I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023. That’s exactly what we’ve done. Over 112,000 cases are now cleared with a lower grant rate than last year, a key part of our plan to stop the boats.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street said efforts to clear the asylum legacy backlog had “gone further” than what had initially been pledged by Mr Sunak.
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