Sir Keir Starmer is taking a new approach to tackle the increasing asylum claims in the UK as unrest over migrant hotels mounts.
On average, asylum appeal cases take up to 53 weeks to be processed, but new independent bodies will soon be established to speed up the process.
The new body will determine if the Home Office’s decision to refuse asylum and face deportation should be upheld, and claims it will get people out of hotels, cut taxpayer costs and speed up the lengthy process.
It will have statutory powers to prioritise cases from those in asylum accommodation and foreign national offenders, which have prompted major protests outside of some migrant hotels.
Right now, there’s a backlog of 106,000 cases waiting to be heard by the First-Tier Tribunal, including at least 51,000 asylum appeals.
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A new legal requirement will also be introduced, requiring a 24-week time frame for the First Tier Tribunal to determine asylum appeals by those receiving asylum accommodation support and appeals by foreign offenders.
It comes on the heels of increased tensions in communities across Britain which have asylum seeker hotels in them.
Today, uniformed police are standing guard at the entrance to the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, east London, which has recently been the focus of anti-migrant protests.
About 20 protesters are on the other side of the road with Union flags propped up against a fence.
A woman carried a homemade banner which read: ‘Tower Hamlets council house homeless Brits first’, which had a St George’s flag drawn on it.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘We inherited an asylum system in complete chaos with a soaring backlog of asylum cases and a broken appeals system with thousands of people in the system for years on end.
‘That is why we are taking practical steps to fix the foundations and restore control and order to the system.
‘Since the election, we have reduced the backlog of people waiting for initial decisions by 24% and increased failed asylum returns by 30%.
‘But we cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays in appeals as a result of the system we have inherited.’
Labour said the case backlog is down 18%, with the number of people waiting for decisions down by 24%.
Clashes outside migrant hotels rise
Yesterday, at least 15 protesters were arrested after clashing with police outside of migrant hotels up and down the UK, with more than 30 demonstrations this weekend.
Protests erupted in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley, Canary Wharf, Aberdeen and Perth in Scotland, and Mold in Wales this weekend.
Punches were thrown between anti-protesters and counter-demonstrators in Bristol, with officers forced to intervene and escort people away.
A 37-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker at the conclusion of the protest in the city centre.
It comes after a landmark ruling allowed for The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, to be closed to asylum seekers.
Residents in other towns and cities across the country have followed suit, waving Union Jack and St George’s flags outside of local asylum hotels.
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