More than 17,000 asylum seekers are missing, Home Office tells MPs

Rishi Sunak has been accused of losing control of the UK's borders after the Home Office admitted it does not know the whereabouts of 17,000 people whose asylum claims have been withdrawn.

- Rajeev Syal

Amida stalled Rwanda deportation scheme and rising costs for housing people seeking refuge in hotels, senior civil servants in the department were told by the deputy Tory party chair, Lee Anderson, they "hadn't got a clue" after failing to provide answers on people seeking refuge in the UK or foreign offender removals.

His comments emerged an hour before the prime minister was accused by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, of facing an "open revolt" from the Tories after "losing control of the borders".

At a meeting of the home affairs select committee, the Conservative MP Tim Loughton questioned why 17,316 asylum claims had been withdrawn in the year to September 2023 and whether the Home Office knew where the former claimants were.

Simon Ridley, the interim second permanent secretary at the Home Office, replied: "In dealing with a lot of older cases there have been some of those people who have absconded at that point."

Asked by Loughton if he had any idea where those 17,316 people were, Ridley said: "I don't think we know where those people are, no."