Britain is being ‘taken for fools by illegal immigrants and their enabling lawyers,’ the Conservatives warned today amid allegations only one in 100 asylum claims is genuine.
A former Home Office insider, who assessed and approved thousands of claims for years, said the entire process had been abused and turned into ‘a massive fraud’.
The whistleblower said many were using the ‘same script’ to try to stay in the UK, citing the example of hundreds of Iraqi Kurds all claiming that they are in a relationship with the same daughter of the Kurdish prime minister.
Scores of Pakistanis alleged they could not go home because they were in a gay relationship with the same man, who would provide letters supporting their claims.
And large numbers of Bangladeshi asylum seekers said they were political dissidents, but seemed to have little substantive knowledge about the party they were said to support.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Only 1 per cent of asylum claims are actually genuine. Many make the same claims, advised by the same lawyers.
‘We need to implement the Conservative plan to end this scam – no asylum claims by illegal immigrants and leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) so we can deport them on arrival.
‘We are being taken for fools by illegal immigrants and their enabling lawyers.’
Migrants off Equihen-Plage south of Boulogne during a cross-Channel attempt in July
Stephen Kerr MSP, the Scottish Tories’ justice spokesman, added: ‘This blows apart the nonsense behind far too many asylum claims being processed by the Home Office.
‘Recycled stories. Claims allegedly tailored to fit the system. Officials saying they see the same excuses again and again.
‘There must now be an urgent investigation, answers and accountability. This is completely unacceptable. The British people are being taken for a massive ride.’
Alan Mendoza, founder of Right-wing think-tank the Henry Jackson Society, said: ‘Are we remotely surprised by the news that an asylum claims whistleblower has revealed that only one in 100 of these are real?
‘The pro-asylum industry in the UK and the criminal gangs have been at it for years, gaming the system for their clients at the (literal) expense of the British people.’
Mr Mendoza, chief adviser on global affairs to Reform UK, referred to how hundreds of demonstrators were in a standoff with police overnight as they vowed to prevent migrants leaving Portsmouth after they arrived in a small boat.
He said: ‘As yet another humiliation unfolds in Portsmouth, with the police aiding the admission of illegal migrants who should never have been able to leave France given what we are paying the French to stop them – and who should be returned immediately from where they came – why must we continue to tolerate this disgrace that successive governments have inflicted upon us?’
It comes after the Home Office whistleblower condemned the current system.
Speaking to The Times, he added: ‘There’s almost no aspect of the asylum system that isn’t either a massive fraud or just really dysfunctional.’
The former employee said claimants underwent only a brief screening initially, followed by a more substantial interview by officials months later.
‘This gives them time to prepare, time to get advice, time to see exactly what fake evidence they can get before committing to a story at full interview.’
He also said there was a bias towards green-lighting claims, which would only take minutes, as opposed to rejecting an application – which could take hours.
Officials denying asylum would be expected to respond to every claim made by the applicant, the man said.
Laura Rogowski Weldon, a 2024 Conservative general election candidate who is a former welfare manager for the Home Office’s asylum contractor, also pointed today to concerns relating to those claiming they are victims of modern slavery.
She said: ‘The problem is that aside from the blatantly risible examples in the article there are thousands of other vague and unprovable claims for asylum. The biggest one is modern slavery.
‘If you come here illegally and work cash in hand at a car wash and live in a shed round the back, the dodgy guy who owns it is not going to whip out a load of paperwork to show you were there of your own free will when it gets raided, so you claim asylum and they can’t prove you weren’t forced to do it so you get approved. That is the biggest scam of them all.’
Responding to the report today, Emma Reynolds, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told LBC radio: ‘Well look, we have highly trained people going through these claims, processing them more quickly than they were before.’
She was then pressed by presenter Nick Ferrari on whether she recognised the 1 per cent figure, and replied: ‘Well, I don’t recognise it, no, and it’s one person who is saying it.’
In another interview with GB News, Ms Reynolds also said: ‘Net migration is down, we’ve returned 80,000 people – which is a ten-year record high – people who don’t have a right to be here.
‘We’ve employed hundreds of additional case workers who are highly trained, who will know all the tricks revealed in this article – they will be no surprise to them.
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‘So I will reassure you and your viewers that the Government takes this issue very seriously and we’re making positive progress. But obviously there is more to do.’
Pakistan accounted for the largest number of claimants stating to be gay or bisexual, according to a 2024 Home Office study.
The claims come just months after legal advisers were caught by undercover reporters telling asylum seekers to pretend to be homosexual to stay in the country.
A BBC investigation in April exposed a shadowy network of asylum experts charging up to £7,000 to coach migrants on how to be more successful in their applications.
The advisers were also revealed to be providing clients with cover stories and telling them how to falsify evidence, including photos from LGBT nightclubs.
The migrants would claim asylum on the basis they risked being persecuted if they returned to Pakistan or Bangladesh, where homosexual acts are illegal.
In the 12 months to June, the most common nationalities claiming asylum were Pakistani (10 per cent), Eritrean (8 per cent), Iranian (8 per cent), Sudanese (7 per cent) and Afghan (7 per cent).
Almost nine in ten claims were from individuals who arrived in the UK on a work, study or visitor visa and overstayed.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on anonymous briefings.
‘The Home Secretary has been clear that those trying to defraud the British people to remain in the UK will have their application refused and find themselves on a one-way flight out of Britain.’
The Prime Minister’s spokesman today denied the claim that only 1 per cent of asylum claims are genuine.
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