Rishi Sunak investigated over 'barefaced lie' asylum backlog has been cleared

03 January 2024 , 17:56

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The UK Statistics Authority is looking into Rishi Sunak's claim that ministers have cleared a 'legacy' backlog of applications (Image: PA)

Rishi Sunak's claim that ministers have "cleared" the asylum backlog is being investigated by the official statistics watchdog after allegations it is a "barefaced lie".

The UK Statistics Authority is looking into the Government's announcement that it has cleared a "legacy" backlog of applications, after figures showed more than 4,500 of these are still waiting an initial decision.

Nearly 100,000 asylum seekers are still waiting for an initial decision despite Tory brags of clearing the backlog. Latest Home Office figures show the UK's backlog stood at a massive 98,599 at the end of 2023 - 16 times higher than when the Conservatives took power and up from 91,076 in November.

Home Secretary James Cleverly also faces uncomfortable questions about more than 17,000 people who vanished after withdrawing their applications. He was also forced to admit that officials don't know where people who withdraw applications go - but vowed to "go looking for them"

In a major pledge, the Prime Minister promised to clear the backlog of the 92,000 cases of people who had claimed asylum before June 28 last year but were still awaiting an initial decision. The Home Office said on Tuesday that the "commitment of clearing the legacy asylum backlog has been delivered", with a similar wording repeated by the Prime Minister.

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"I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023. That's exactly what we've done," Mr Sunak wrote on social media site Twitter/X.

But figures published by the Home Office showed that 4,537 complex legacy applications were still "awaiting an initial decision" as of December 28. The statistics watchdog confirmed that its regulatory arm, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), would scrutinise the claim. "I can confirm the OSR is looking into the Government's announcement yesterday," a spokesman said.

Labour's shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock was among those to have criticised the Government's claim. "The Prime Minister's barefaced lie that he has cleared the asylum backlog would be laughable if it wasn't such an insult to the public's intelligence," Mr Kinnock said.

The chairman of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Robert Chote last month challenged Mr Sunak's claims to have reduced public debt. Sir Robert said his claims on social media that "debt is falling" and that "we have indeed reduced debt" at Prime Minister's Questions were misleading.

Reducing debt was one of Mr Sunak's five promises he made to the nation, as was "stopping the boats". Apart from the one to halve inflation, the Prime Minister has been struggling to achieve the core pledges.

Sophie Huskisson