LONDON: The number of people claiming asylum in the UK in 2025 fell slightly compared to the previous record year, government figures showed on Thursday, despite small boat arrivals jumping 13 per cent.
The interior ministry data showed 100,625 people applied for asylum in Britain last year, down four per cent on 2024, but still more than double pre-pandemic levels.
Just over half — 52 per cent —
had arrived in the UK through illegal entry routes, typically on small boats bound for the shores of southeast England from France.
The cross-Channel journeys have become politically toxic in Britain, helping to fuel the rise of eurosceptic Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party, which has led in the polls for the last year.
The latest such arrivals were photographed being brought ashore Wednesday by Border Force, in a visible reminder that Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has failed to stop the crossings.
Interior ministry figures confirmed on Thursday that 605 migrants had been intercepted the previous day, the largest number in a 24-hour period so far this year.
French authorities also said they had rescued 119 people attempting the crossing.
The new annual statistics showed 41,472 people arrived on small boats last year, compared to 36,816 in 2024, a 13-per cent rise despite Starmer taking power in July that year vowing to "smash the gangs" facilitating the journeys. However, arrival numbers are below the 2022 record figure of 45,774.
Meanwhile the number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels dropped to 30,657, its lowest level for 18 months.
The issue of so-called "asylum hotels" has triggered widespread protests and Starmer's government has pledged to end their use by the end of this parliament in 2029.
However, some of the alternatives, including the use of former army barracks, have themselves triggered controversy and opposition in local areas.
Eritreans accounted for nearly 20 per cent of those arriving via small boats in 2025, with the other most common nationalities being Afghans with 12 per cent and Iranians and Sudanese, both on 11 per cent.
The data also showed that the backlog of people waiting for an initial decision on their asylum application at the end of 2025 dropped sharply to its lowest level in more than five years.
Some 64,426 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application, down nearly half from a year earlier and well below the peak of 175,457 at the end of June 2023.
The interior ministry said the government is "bearing down" on the asylum backlog but "must go further".
"The number of people crossing the Channel is too high and too many hotels remain in use", the spokesperson added.
"That is why the Home Secretary is introducing sweeping reforms to tackle the pull factors drawing illegal migrants to Britain", the spokesperson said, referring to interior minister Shabana Mahmood.
The ministry also noted the government is "ramping up removals of those with no right to be here". — AFP
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