Sir Tony Blair’s frustration with the Home Office for failing to get a handle on a mounting backlog of asylum claims when he was prime minister in 1999, has been revealed in government files released on Tuesday.
Papers from the National Archives show that Sir Tony, who at the time was just shy of two years into his premiership, complained about the lack of action to cut the “vast numbers” entering the country.
His comments have emerged at a time when curbing the number of migrants arriving in Britain is a key political issue.
Then prime minister Sir Tony’s intervention followed a warning from Jack Straw, who was home secretary at the time, in February 1999 that a “surge” in arrivals meant the total that year was expected to reach 59,000—up from a previous estimate of 42,000.
Lord Straw stated he was planning to release the figures to local authorities in a bid to help them plan for the expected influx, but officials in Downing Street objected, saying the estimates were not “robust” and therefore should not be made public.
Sir Tony agreed, adding in a handwritten note: “And what are we doing to cut these vast numbers? This really isn’t right unless there are real reasons for it.”
In a memorandum, Lord Straw wrote that the problems were partly due to the “dreadful” situation he had inherited from the previous Conservative government, including a computerisation programme in the immigration and nationality department (IND) which had been badly implemented.
“Asylum cases increased tenfold between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, but the Conservatives failed ever to put in a commensurate system or resources, thus allowing backlogs to grow inexorably,” he wrote.
No. 10, however, remained worried about the situation and Lord Straw’s attitude towards it, with senior political adviser Sally Morgan writng: “IND is a mess. Jack is relatively unconcerned about the situation. However, (immigration minister) Mike O’Brien, who is closer to it, is much more worried.
“Our internal political problem is that we are relying on a principled position of being able to deliver on the time target (for dealing with asylum claims) which none of us believe is achievable on current plans.”
Other revelations about Sir Tony’s time in office which came out in the National Archives documents unveiled today include that he was urged to “duck” a televised debate with then Tory leader William Hague, now Lord Hague of Richmond, in the run-up to the 2001 and that he wished to acquire a permanent prime ministerial battle bus in 2000.
Migration Still an Issue Today
Asylum arrivals and migration continue to be issues to this day, 25 years after then Sir Tony raised his concerns with the numbers arriving in 1999.She said: “It is the most extraordinary policy that I’ve ever seen. We have inherited asylum Hotel California—people arrive in the asylum system and they never leave. The previous government’s policy was effectively an amnesty and that is the wrong thing to do.”
The most recent Home Office figures showed nearly 1,500 migrants had arrived in the UK on small boats across the English Channel in a single week.
A total of 1,499 people made the journey in 27 boats from July 15 to July 21, while the French coastguard confirmed two people died during rescue operations off the country’s northern coast.
