Asylum claims surged under Labour to hit more than 108,000 last year – the highest number since records began in 1979.
The biggest increase came in the second half of the year – following the general election – when 61,383 asylum bids were lodged, compared with 50,352 during the same period in 2023.
The annual total – an 18 per cent year-on-year rise – smashed the previous record set during the early 2000s asylum crisis by 5 per cent.
One of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts after taking power was scrapping the Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed by the Conservative government to deter small- boat Channel crossings.
Home Office figures published yesterday showed that 43,630 ‘irregular’ migrants were detected by the authorities – including 36,816 by small boat – in 2024, 19 per cent more than in 2023.
Asylum claims are made not just by new arrivals but also by foreign nationals who have been in Britain for years.
The data showed the number of asylum claims which were granted fell 37 per cent to just under 40,000, mainly because the previous Tory government put cases on hold last spring.
Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper reversed that move in July, allowing processing to restart. At the end of December, there were 90,686 asylum cases – relating to 124,802 people – awaiting an initial decision, down 5 per cent year-on-year.
Figures on legal migration showed the number of work visas granted last year fell 37 per cent to 210,000, thanks to changes introduced by the Conservatives at the start of 2024. Tory ministers raised salary thresholds required for work visas and barred many migrants from bringing family members with them to the UK.
But despite the decline in the number of new work visas being issued, there has been a massive surge in the number of foreign workers renewing their right to remain in the UK.
Work visa extensions hit 417,000, a seven-fold increase on 2019 levels. The number of foreign students granted a visa fell 14 per cent to 393,000. But family visas – used to bring relatives to the UK – were up 7 per cent to 86,000, mainly due to refugees bringing family members here.
Grants of settlement – referring to foreign nationals granted indefinite rights to remain in Britain – rose to 162,000 in 2024, a 35 per cent increase on the previous 12 months. It is the highest number for 13 years, although well below the peak of 241,000 in 2010.
Among the total, settlement granted to former refugees increased by over a third year-on-year to 40,278.
There was also a ‘sharp increase’ in the number of people taking British citizenship, Home Office documents accompanying the figures said. The number jumped by just over 63,000 year-on-year to 270,000, the highest since records began. In 2020, the figure was just 131,000.
Just under 209,000 of those granted citizenship were non-EU nationals, with the remaining 61,000 originally from the EU.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘With no deterrent, and an obsession with rewarding criminal migrants with British passports, today’s figures are no surprise. Unchecked immigration, and waves of illegals crossing the Channel. The blame lies squarely at Labour’s feet, who have been slow to act to tackle the crisis unfolding on our border.’
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch which campaigns for tougher border controls, said: ‘The Government must shake off its complacency, tackle legal and illegal inflows, stop importing cheaper workers and start prioritising the future of our own young people.
‘Nothing they have done or said so far will do this.’
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘Over the last six years, legal migration skyrocketed, a global criminal smuggling industry was allowed to establish itself and the asylum system was broken.
‘The system we inherited had tens of thousands stuck in a backlog, claims not being processed, and costs spiralling through the use of expensive hotels.
‘But within just six months we had put in place a serious long-term plan to restore order to the asylum system.
‘We have set up the Border Security Command, surged returns figures to the highest levels for more than a decade and produced plans for a world-first people smuggling sanctions regime, and introduced game-changing legislation to smash smuggling gangs.’