62,000 asylum applications set to be waved through to cut backlog in half

MORE than 62,000 migrants will be granted asylum and allowed to stay in Britain after Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme, experts have revealed.

- Michael Knowles

The Refugee Council predicted 62,801 people could be recognised as refugees and waved through the system, as Labour bids to halve the current backlog.

The migrant charity said this is primarily down to large numbers of Afghans, Syrians, Eritreans, Iranians and Sudanese people who it said have "a very high likelihood of being recognised as a refugee".

But last night Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly said Labour had simply "thrown the doors open instead of doing what is necessary to stop the dangerous [Channel] crossings".

The Refugee Council made its prediction "using the initial decision grant rates for the year leading up to [the] election".

Its chief policy analyst, Jon Featonby, added: "[It] worked out where you might expect it to be...around 62,000 people out of that backlog could be granted refugee status."