At the end of September 2021, 67,547 people were awaiting a decision on their asylum applications, the ministry announced.
(Photo: AP)
London The number of asylum applications in Britain has risen to its highest level in a good 17 years. 37,562 people had applied for asylum in the 12 months to September, the Home Office in London said on Thursday. That is almost a fifth more than in the same period of the previous year and also slightly above the number of the peak of the refugee movement in 2015/16. More requests were last made in the twelve months to June 2004.
At the end of September 2021, 67,547 people were awaiting a decision on their asylum applications, the ministry announced. That’s 41 percent more than at the time of the previous year and the highest number ever evaluated.
The British government significantly tightened immigration rules after Brexit. Human rights activists criticize that since then there have been little opportunities for refugees to enter the country legally. Interior Minister Priti Patel is a thorn in the side of unregulated immigration. To deter migrants, the hardline conservative wants to further toughen asylum laws. According to their plans, people who enter the country illegally should not be able to apply for asylum.
Yet three times as many people have entered the country illegally through the English Channel this year than in the total of 2020. On Wednesday, at least 27 people drowned when their rubber boat capsized off Calais.
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