It also said that someone was deported every eight minutes over the past year while asylum applications were at their lowest point for 14 years.
While the government hailed the figures, the Conservatives criticized the Labor government’s immigration policy and its “complete inability to get a grip on ten years of asylum chaos.”
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the almost 800,000 immigrant applications was far higher than expected.
“This blows out of the water Labor’s proclamation that no more than 13,000 people a year would come to the UK from accession countries. This staggering complacency means they were totally unprepared,” Davis said in a statement.
Authorities received a total of 796,000 applications to work in Britain from Poland and the other so-called A8 countries; the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, of which 766,000 were approved. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne heralded the fall in asylum seekers.
He said the country’s “sweeping program of border reform” last year had led to more than one million lorries searched, almost 20,000 people – a record – stopped from crossing the Channel illegally and almost 1000 fake visas stopped.
“Stronger border controls are delivering falls in asylum claims – they’re now at the lowest level for 14 years. And we are dealing with those cases faster than ever before.”
“Overall today’s figures prove that last year we deported someone every eight minutes – and we got our priorities straight. We deported the highest ever number of foreign lawbreakers, up by a huge 80%, and we attacked illegal working much harder,” Byrne said.
The Local Government Association said migration benefited the economy to the tune of Ł40 billion a year.
“The evidence shows that industries such as fruit-picking and residential care would risk collapse without migrant labor,” LGA chairman Simon Milton said in a statement. (Reuters)
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
