§ 10. Mr. Gwyn Prosser (Dover) (Lab)What assessment he has made of measures he has taken to control (a) illegal immigration and (b) unfounded asylum claims. [178160]
§ The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Mr. Desmond Browne)The measures taken by the Government to control illegal immigration and unfounded asylum claims are subject to continuous and ongoing review. We have achieved a great deal of success in both those areas over the past year.
513 We have introduced a wide range of measures, such as the expansion of UK border controls in France, the rollout of new detection technology in France and Belgium, the expansion of the list of nationals who require direct air transit visas and the widening of the airline liaison officer network abroad. Those measures, among others, have all had a significant impact on both illegal immigration and unfounded asylum claims.
The impact of the measures is clearly demonstrated by the 65 per cent. fall in clandestine entry in Kent in 2003 compared with 2002 and the 44 per cent. fall in asylum applications in the first quarter of 2004 compared with the same period of 2003.
§ Mr. ProsserI thank my hon. Friend for that answer and for those figures, which reflect the dramatic downturn in the number of people coming across the channel into my constituency where, he will be pleased to know, we held a successful multicultural festival last weekend to celebrate refugee week. Does he share my frustration that, when asylum figures are high and rising, everyone accepts that as the going rate, but when they are low and falling, as they are now, it is difficult to get that message across so the figures are disputed by everyone, including the media and the Opposition? Is there anything that we can do about that?
§ Mr. BrowneI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his consistently constructive contribution on the issue, which has been difficult for him and his constituents, as those in Dover have suffered greatly from the abuse of this country's asylum system by organised criminals in particular. I am pleased that the people of Dover can celebrate national refugee week, as other people up and down the country celebrate the diversity of the community in which they now live.
I also share my hon. Friend's frustration at the tendency not only not to accept good news, but to wallow in bad news, but the fact of the matter is that we are politicians, and that is world we live in. The problem is that other politicians, some of whom are not that far from me, glory in being able to generate such confusion. They do it in a dangerous way—[Interruption.] One of them has just said that I have missed the question, but I have not; I understood it entirely correctly. The shadow Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis), ought to know exactly what I am talking about because he is a perpetrator of such misinformation.
§ Mr. Humfrey Malins (Woking) (Con)Last week, we heard some devastating evidence from the Home Office official, Robert Owen, which was supported by many other immigration officers, to the effect that illegal immigration to this country is running at six times the official figure. Given that fact, and given that the Home Secretary himself has said that he has not a clue how many illegal immigrants there are, does the Minister understand why after seven years of this Government the general public have totally lost confidence and trust in their ability to run our asylum and immigration systems with any efficiency?
§ Mr. BrowneI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me an opportunity to comment in a restricted way on Mr. Owen's evidence in the course of a criminal 514 case. The comments that I will make are as follows: the case is still ongoing; the gentleman who is sitting to the hon. Gentleman's right, the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden, who purports to want to be Home Secretary, disqualified himself in my view from ever aspiring to that office because of his public comments on that evidence during the currency of a criminal trial. That is an entirely inappropriate thing for a politician to do. What I will say about Mr. Owen is that my understanding was that he was giving evidence about his experience as an immigration officer when he was doing that job—and that was in 1994.
§ Keith Vaz (Leicester, East) (Lab)I thank the Minister for the courtesy and efficiency with which he deals with individual cases raised by hon. Members, which is a breath of fresh air as far as the Home Office is concerned, but is he absolutely certain that the resources that are being given to the immigration and nationality directorate are sufficient to deal with the backlog that still manifests itself, which of course started under the previous Conservative Government? Do we need to allocate more resources or are there enough to deal with this very difficult problem?
§ Mr. BrowneI accept my hon. Friend's compliment but not his qualification that that is not characteristic of the way in which my colleagues in the Home Office or, indeed, my predecessors dealt with these issues. I will continue to extend the levels of courtesy that I think are appropriate, to hon. Members across the House and to people outside the House, for as long as I am given the responsibility. I think that 5,000 extra people doing the work is enough, particularly since, as I have said, the number of asylum seekers has reduced significantly. However, there is a long-standing problem of a backlog, which goes back to the beginning of the 1990s when the assault on our asylum and immigration service by organised criminals first began. I am satisfied that the resources and skills are now available to enable us to work our way through that. I ask hon. Members to have patience while we train people to the relevant standard to achieve that.