Tories accuse government of asylum 'whitewash'

An official report claiming that the government's asylum statistics were "broadly reliable" has been dismissed as a whitewash by the Tories.

Home Office statistics released yesterday indicated that asylum claims fell by one-fifth to just over 10,500 in the first quarter of the year. The figures have been quality assured by the National Audit Office who found that the report was "broadly reliable".

However, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis questioned the NAO's findings claiming that they are undermined as "no-one has been prepared to say how many illegal immigrants are at large in the UK".

Despite "weaknesses in the way some figures are compiled", the audit office declared that Whitehall's asylum figures were "in most respects reliable" – adding that there was no clear statistical evidence to indicate that asylum has fallen at the expense of other forms of migration.

Mr Davis said he was "highly sceptical" as to the accuracy of the figures.

He said: "It's what isn't in the report rather than what is which is of most interest. To this day, we still don't know how many people are in this country, and we still don't know how many of them are here illegally. Many other countries around the world measure or estimate how many illegals are in their country at any one time. Why is it that our government always shies away from these figures?"

If there is no data on illegal immigrants, how can the government claim to have the asylum system under control, the Tory frontbencher added.

"No wonder we don't have much faith in reports like this when the government commissions them, asks the questions and checks the answers before publication. From this, I would conclude that the report is a whitewash and all it does is leave many questions still unanswered," Mr Davis concluded.

(gmcg)