Blunkett orders new crackdown on asylum

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, moved yesterday to reduce the chances of asylum-seekers making successful claims after the number of applications rose to the highest level in a three-month period.

Mr Blunkett scrapped the "exceptional leave to remain" (ELR) arrangement under which most successful asylum applicants are allowed to stay in the country. The decision meansthousands of migrants who were given the right to live temporarily in Britain because of "compelling or compassionate" grounds, could now be sent home.

Refugee support groups described the move as shocking and deeply disturbing.

The Home Office acted after new asylum statistics showed that 22,560 applications were made in the three months from July to September, a record quarterly total. The figure represents an 11 per cent increase on the previous three months and a 20 per cent rise on the same period in 2001.

There has been a surge in applications from Iraq, Zimbabwe and Somalia, although claims from Afghanistan have fallen. The increase was partly caused by breaches in security at French rail freight depots, allowing hundreds of asylum seekers to stowaway on cross-Channel trains to Britain.

The Immigration minister, Beverley Hughes, said ELR was being abused. She said: "I believe that our use of ELR has encouraged abuse and acted as a pull factor, encouraging economic migrants to apply for asylum in the UK in the belief that they will be given ELR when their asylum claim is rejected."

Habib Rahman, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: "This is shocking and not the action of a progressive or democratic government."

Leigh Daynes, of Refugee Action, said: "The abolition of ELR is deeply disturbing. As global political events and human rights abuses continue to uproot innocent people, the Government must extend protection to those who need it."

Last year, 21,175 asylum applicants were given ELR, almost twice as many as the 12,610 granted refugee status, which entitles individuals to full citizen's rights.

Many of those given ELR, which allows people to work and claim benefits for a four-year period until their case is reviewed, were permitted to stay because of family members already living in Britain. Others were given ELR because they had been in Britain for several years with irregular immigration status.

The Government is replacing ELR with a new status called "humanitarian protection", which officials said would be "much tighter" and would only apply to claimants who proved they could not safely return home. A Home Office spokesman said 25 per cent of claimants were given ELR and the Government wanted the number under the new system to fall to 10 per cent.

Jessica Yudilevich, of the Refugee Council, said it was wrong for Britain to have "targets for protection". She said: "Someone either needs protecting or they do not."