Thread by @stevesymondsAI

People crossing the Channel by boat to seek asylum are visible in a way that people making different journeys to UK to do so are not. Ministers & others have exploited this visibility to excite some sense of national emergency. But what is the reality… 1/11

Firstly, there were more asylum claims made in UK in 2019 than 2020. In first half of 2021, there were more claims than in first half of 2020 but still fewer than same period in 2019. So, over period of heightened attention to boat crossings, asylum claims haven’t gone up. 2/11

Secondly, backlogs & delays in asylum system have significantly increased over this period. Pandemic certainly had an impact as did @ukhomeoffice response to it. And Ministers have added to this by delaying consideration of many claims. 3/11

Those delays caused by Ministers include introducing rules at end 2020 to put new claims on hold (by refusing to admit people to UK asylum process) on basis @ukhomeoffice will somehow persuade other countries to receive people from UK into their asylum systems. 4/11

Thirdly, UK remains a very modest recipient of people seeking asylum. Its nearest & most comparable European neighbours receive many more people into their systems. 5/11

Ministers often highlight resettlement schemes that have operated (particularly for Syrians) or are to operate (particularly for Afghans) as suggesting UK is already a leader in providing asylum. But even UK’s asylum system provides for far more refugees than these schemes. 6/11

So, to recap, few people come to UK to seek or receive asylum. Number of people doing so hasn’t increased while boat crossings have increased. Number of people seeking asylum by other routes has, therefore, gone down, which strongly indicates no more than a change in route. 7/11

The ‘emergency’ emphasised by Ministers & others is clearly a fabrication. Ironically, people seeking asylum more visibly is being used to excite fear & hostility. If people had continued on routes that were less visible, this fabrication wouldn’t have been possible. 8/11

One especially ironic aspect of this dismal irony was creation of a Clandestine Channel Threat Commander in response to something that’s hardly clandestine, constitutes no threat & over which he has no command. But title does sound impressive - which is of course the point. 9/11

Ministers make such noise about boat crossings that it’s difficult to maintain grip on reality - which in terms of impact on UK’s asylum system is that nothing much at all has changed save for Ministers making system ever more costly, harmful & inept. #BreakingNotFixing 10/11

Of course, Ministers dare not admit to that. So on they go, perpetuating nonsense that asylum system is breaking under emergency pressure when truth is they are breaking that system by their responses to a situation that hasn’t fundamentally changed at all. 11/11