Britain grants 72% of asylum claims by migrants to the UK… almost three times the proportion France green-lights, analysis shows
- Asylum claims granted by Britain is nearly three times that granted by French
- Analysis showed how the percentage of claims granted by the UK has soared
- Home Office allowed 72 per cent of claims at the initial decision stage last year
- In France the figure fell from 32 per cent to 25 per cent
The proportion of asylum claims granted by Britain is nearly three times that granted by the French, it emerged last night.
Analysis also showed how the percentage of claims granted by the UK has soared in recent years, while in France the number has dropped.
The Home Office allowed 72 per cent of claims at the initial decision stage last year, compared with 34 per cent in 2016, the report by Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tougher border controls, showed.
In France the figure fell from 32 per cent to 25 per cent over the same period. Over the same six-year period the grant rate across the European Union as a whole dropped by 25 per cent.
The proportion of asylum claims granted by Britain is nearly three times that granted by the French
A Home Office spokesman said the Government had delivered ‘the most comprehensive reform of the asylum system in decades’ and added: ‘We will stop the cycle of endless appeals and abuse of the asylum system’
A Home Office internal document highlighted in the report admits that changes to the way it prioritises asylum claims has ‘increased the grant rate’ and ‘raised the UK average above the average across the EU’.
It also reveals that a significant proportion of asylum seekers from some nationalities who lodge claims in Britain have previously made similar claims in other EU countries.
The repeat claims showed up when claimants gave their fingerprints to the Home Office, which then compared them with the EU’s ‘Eurodac’ fingerprint database. The UK has not had full access to Eurodac since Brexit.
For example, 55 per cent of Eritrean asylum applicants in Britain had previously claimed in Europe, data from 2019 showed. Home Office data also showed that for Afghans the figure was 44 per cent.
Migration Watch’s paper, published today, also said the figures suggested Albanians ‘are choosing to travel in boats to the UK after being rejected in France’.
It said: ‘The yawning gap in acceptance rates between the two countries is adding to the strength of the powerful magnet that is drawing many – including some of the 680,000 asylum claimants whose applications were rejected by France over the past decade – to come to the UK and try their luck once again.’
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘The UK is now an outlier, granting a much higher share of claims than most other European countries. The public have had enough.’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman backed up some of Migration Watch’s claims when she gave evidence to the House of Lords justice and home affairs committee.
‘If you look at the numbers of people applying for asylum… we have a very high rate of claims granted in this country,’ she said.
A Home Office spokesman said the Government had delivered ‘the most comprehensive reform of the asylum system in decades’ and added: ‘We will stop the cycle of endless appeals and abuse of the asylum system.’
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