Labour’s plan to allow asylum claims to be lodged overseas would plunge Britain’s immigration system into ‘a new depth of chaos’, a report warns today.
Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tougher border control, said the ‘absurd’ and ‘unworkable’ proposal would lead to a ‘flood’ of new claims.
It also criticised the Government’s moves to introduce an annual cap on refugee numbers – to be set by Parliament – warning that it will ‘increase year-on-year’ and create a host of problems.
The report said Labour’s proposal would effectively be open to migrants who had ‘illegally entered Europe’.
‘Labour’s absurd scheme to open up UK embassies abroad to asylum claims poses an even greater threat to the integrity of the system and would undermine border control even more gravely,’ it said.
Labour’s plan to allow asylum claims to be lodged overseas would plunge Britain’s immigration system into ‘a new depth of chaos’, a report warns today
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘The asylum scheme is already in chaos. The Government should drop their scheme for an annual cap which would be a prime target for the asylum lobby’
‘This is because any UK office overseas that was charged with considering applications would likely be flooded with them.
‘Indeed, it is likely that foreign governments would refuse to agree to their establishment lest those who failed should remain on their territory.
‘Furthermore, those declined at an overseas British office might well move on to France and try their luck crossing the Channel.’
It noted that 585,000 refugees have come to Britain under 13 different ‘safe and legal’ routes since 2005, including Ukrainians, Afghans and Hong Kongers.
The pressure group’s report also said the Conservatives’ new cap on asylum numbers would ‘raise a number of practical problems’.
The cap was pledged under the Illegal Migration Act passed by Parliament in the summer.
Migration Watch’s report said the cap would ‘encourage yet more illegal journeys’ by suggesting Britain is ‘a soft touch which does not prioritise the capacity of its own people and communities to absorb ever-increasing numbers from abroad’.
The £4billion a year cost of the asylum system ‘could increase substantially if thousands more refugees were to be accepted under the new scheme’, it added.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘The asylum scheme is already in chaos. The Government should drop their scheme for an annual cap which would be a prime target for the asylum lobby.
‘Over the last two years immigration and asylum have added the population of Birmingham to the UK population. The public have already had enough. Now is the time for sensible caution.
‘Meanwhile Labour’s scheme to allow asylum claimants to make applications at UK embassies in Europe would plunge our immigration asylum system into a new depth of chaos.’
Labour is considering allowing migrants to apply for asylum before arriving in the UK under a policy referred to as ‘upstreaming’.
Party sources have said refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East could, for example, lodge an asylum claim at the British embassy in Turkey.
Similar schemes are understood to have the support of senior Home Office civil servants.
Leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he will scrap the Government’s asylum deal with Rwanda, even if it is brought into successful operation by new measures currently before Parliament.
The Labour party failed to respond to a request for comment last night.