Rishi Sunak slams 'unacceptable' £4billion asylum backlog costs
Rishi Sunak admitted the rising costs needed to be dealt with
PA
Rishi Sunak has described the taxpayer bill for housing asylum seekers as "unacceptable" as he vowed to reduce the record backlog of applications.
Yesterday it was revealed that a total of 175,457 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2023.
The figure is the highest since current records began in 2010, and is costing Britain £4billion a year.
Despite the Prime Minister pledging earlier this year to "stop the boats" crossing the English Channel, the cost of housing asylum seekers has continued to rise.
The rapid increase in small boat arrivals is just the latest setback to the Government’s plans to tackle the Channel migrant crisisPAHome Office spending on asylum in the year to June rose by £1.85billion, up from £2.12billion in 2021/22.
But reacting to the sharp rise overnight, Sunak blamed his predecessors for the high numbers, saying that he was tackling a "legacy backlog" that he had inherited.
Speaking to the Daily Express he said: "The best way to relieve the unsustainable pressures on our asylum system and unacceptable costs to the taxpayer is to stop the boats in the first place.
"That's why we are focused on our plan to break the business model of the people smugglers facilitating these journeys, including working with international partners upstream to disrupt their efforts, stepping up joint work with the French to help reduce crossings and tackling the asylum backlog."
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He added: "We've already reduced the legacy backlog by over 28,000 - nearly a third - since the start of December and we remain on track to meet our target.
"But we know there is more to do to make sure asylum seekers do not spend months or years - living in the UK at vast expense to the taxpayer - waiting for a decision."
The number of people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2023 was up 44 per cent compared to the previous year.
Sunak promised at the start of the year to clear the "legacy" cased by the end of 20203, but in the six months since the Prime Minister made his promise, the figure reduced only by just less than a quarter (23 per cent).
Speaking on GB News, Labour's Baroness Chapman said: "It's extraordinary the Prime Minister making statements like that when they've been running the show for the last 13 years and now they say it's unacceptable. Well, it is unacceptable."
She added: "This system is in absolute crisis and it's been getting worse year of year since 2010 and now, it's a big incentive for people getting in these boats knowing they're going to get here and their claim is not even going to be looked at potentially for years.
"The people traffickers know this, they tell them this, and it's a big driver for people coming here."
Meanwhile, Conservative minister for nuclear and networks Andrew Bowie admitted to GB News Breakfast that the situation "can't go on".
He said: "It can't go on and nobody has been clearer on this than the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary."