LONDON – The number of migrants arriving illegally in Britain on small boats in 2023 was 29,437, caretaker government figures showed, around 36% less than the previous year.
In 2022, a record 45,775 people were detected arriving in small boats on the beaches of southern England after making the dangerous journey through the English Channel, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made “stopping the boats” one of his top five priorities and is trying to revive a plan to send those arriving illegally to Britain to Rwanda after it was blocked by the courts.
Britain currently spends more than £3 billion a year processing asylum applications, and the cost of housing migrants awaiting a decision in hotels and other accommodation amounts to around £8 million a day.
The backlog of asylum applications pending decision reached a record of just over 134,000 in the year to June, the number of applications being the highest in two decades.
The Home Office said on Monday that the government had delivered on a promise made by Sunak in December 2022 to clear the legacy of 92,000 outstanding asylum cases by the end of 2023.
People, believed to be migrants, walk through Dungeness, Britain, August 16, 2023. REUTERS
More than 112,000 asylum cases were processed in 2023, it said, with a grant rate of 67%, down from the 2022 rate of 76%.
“By removing the asylum backlog… we are saving the taxpayer millions of pounds in costly hotel costs, reducing pressure on public services and ensuring the most vulnerable receive appropriate support,” Sunak said in a statement.
“But we cannot be complacent, which is why I am focused on fulfilling my commitment to stop the boats and get flights to Rwanda off the ground.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn