Record number seeking asylum

BRITAIN'S ASYLUM system was on the verge of collapse last night as official figures revealed that 6,600 asylum-seekers arrived in July, the highest number seen in a single month.

The Home Office figures laid bare the disarray of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, which now faces a backlog in asylum applications of more than 82,000 compared with 51,000 when Labour came to power in 1997.

Despite government promises to sort out what ministers described as a "shambles" at the directorate, the number of applications processed each month is falling as the number of asylum-seekers climbs.

Decisions were made on just 3,085 cases in July compared with 4,680 in June, official figures released yesterday show. There are now 82,195 outstanding cases, a 28,000 rise on July last year.

The record number of applications last month compares with 6,230 in June and gives a three-monthly average of 6,070 - 67 per cent higher than in the same period last year.

More than 1,050 of the applications last month came from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Applications from Somalia formed the second biggest group at 675.

Of the decisions made, only 39 per cent were granted asylum - the lowest level since April, when the number of Kosovo refugees began to grow.

Under a "backlog clearance exercise", covering people who have been waiting for more than four years, some 1,325 decisions (88 per cent) were given exceptional leave to remain.

The figures were seized on by the Conservatives. "An end to amnesties, tougher enforcement, international action to control the flow of asylum- seekers and reform of carriers' liability are all urgently needed," said Michael Ancram, the party chairman. "The entire system is on the brink of collapse. I hold Jack Straw personally responsible."

The figures must be "coming back to haunt ministers", who acknowledged earlier in the summer that their jobs were on the line over the handling of immigration, he said.

Meanwhile, Kent County Council was accused of off-loading 23 refugees on Liverpool without notice. Liverpool City Council - which had offered to take 40 asylum-seekers from Kent - said it learnt of the Iranian refugees only 24 hours after Kent placed them at a private refuge in the city. Liverpool's housing spokesman, Councillor Richard Kemp, said: "We were kept entirely in the dark."

But a Kent County Council spokeswoman said: "We had an emergency situation which led us to placing 23 asylum-seekers in Liverpool under an arrangement with an agency that assured us that the accommodation was suitable.

"Liverpool City Council, which has been very sympathetic to the problems here in Kent, was informed as soon as practically possible the following day."

A meeting was taking place in London yesterday with the Local Government Association and local authorities to discuss the dispersal of asylum- seekers to other areas of the country.