Asylum case backlog 'has been cleared'

THE Home Secretary has insisted the Government has "done what we promised" to deal with a backlog of older cases in the asylum system, despite the latest official figures showing that more than 4,500 applications were yet to have even an initial decision taken on them.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously pledged to "abolish" a portion of outstanding older asylum applications by the end of 2023, tasking the Home Office with tackling the number of so-called "legacy" claims.

The department declared this week that the "commitment of clearing the legacy asylum backlog has been delivered" and Mr Sunak hailed the progress as being "the result of relentless action to tackle illegal migration over the past year."

But figures published by the Home Office on Tuesday show that 4,537 legacy applications were still "awaiting an initial as of Decemdecision" ber 28.