- The Observer,
- Sunday October 26 2003
In the latest crackdown on people the Government says are 'playing the system', the new measures will be part of the Asylum Bill to be revealed in the Queen's Speech at the end of next month.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, will also confirm that the rights of asylum seekers to appeal against decisions to deport them are to be dramatically curtailed.
As revealed in The Observer a month ago, Blunkett will say that the present lengthy process of appeal will be scrapped and replaced with a 'one appeal and you are out' policy.
The moves, which are backed by the Prime Minister who has told officials that he believes the asylum issue has the potential to damage the Government badly, are likely to be attacked by some backbench MPs and refugee groups.
'The changes ... may deny people a fair hearing by stopping their ability to appeal against a poor decision by the Home Office,' Imran Hussein, of the Refugee Council, said at the time the proposals were leaked.
Tony Blair has admitted to his inner circle that many people 'would not like' the proposals, which will be published as a consultation document tomorrow.
'We have already brought forward new legislation to halve the number of asylum seekers and remove the record backlog,' said a Home Office official. 'There is now the remaining phasing in of the reforms, and these proposals are part of that.'
On Friday the Government announced that as many as 50,000 asylum seekers and their children who have been in the country for more than three years would be allowed to live and work in Britain even if they did not satisfy the strict criteria for gaining asylum. The announcement was said by the Home Office to be a way of 'clearing the decks' before Blunkett's asylum announcement.
Home Office officials said that many asylum seekers came into the country and simply destroyed their travel documents so that immigration officers would not know where they were from.
In an investigation of 145 claims for asylum by the Home Office, 9 per cent of applicants were not from the countries that they claimed to be from.
The lack of travel documents means the Home Office has difficulty removing asylum seekers if their claims fail. Those being removed can simply refuse to reply to questions about travel documents.
The Home Office will say such refusals will be treated as a criminal matter in the future. If asylum seekers arrive without documents, they will have to give a 'credible explanation'.
'Particularly if they are travelling by plane, many of these people will have travel documents when they set off but they will get rid of them in the airport when they arrive,' the Home Office official said.
