UK: Priti Patel accused of 'disastrous leadership' as asylum backlog increases again

New 2022 Q1 immigration figures show backlog of asylum claims awaiting a decision after more than six months at 73,207

Under Priti Patel, the Home Office has become a byword for backlogs and dysfunction

‘The Home Secretary’s disastrous leadership has run the asylum system into the ground’ - Steve Valdez-Symonds

Amnesty International has accused Priti Patel of “disastrous leadership” at the Home Office after new immigration statistics published today showed another large increase to the backlog of outstanding asylum claims.

Today’s figures, from the immigration quarterly statistics published by the Home Office, show that the number of asylum claims still to be decided after more than six months has grown in every quarter of the current Home Secretary’s term of office.

Overall, the UK’s asylum backlog has more than trebled since July 2019 under the Home Secretary’s leadership, with 73,207 people still waiting for a decision after six months of submitting an asylum application.

The latest figures show that the largest number of asylum claims during the first quarter of 2022 came from nationals from Afghanistan, Albania and Iran. More than 75% of the claims decided over that same period were successful.

An analysis of the statistics on asylum claims shows that in each of the three years of Priti Patel’s time as Home Secretary has been a marked increase in the size of the asylum claim backlog. Data published by the Home Office shows:

“The Home Secretary’s disastrous leadership has run the asylum system into the ground, with the Home Office becoming a byword for backlogs and dysfunction.

The data on outstanding claims is available from the asylum applications awaiting a decision datasets.