Policy towards asylum seekers has been among the most visible aspects of Labour's overall migration policy. Asylum has dominated debates in Parliament and among the judiciary. However, it cannot be considered in isolation. As Chapter 2 discussed, asylum seekers have been given more attention than any other immigrant group in policies on unauthorised migration and anti-terrorism.

Reducing the numbers of asylum seekers

Labour has made reducing asylum claims the key policy goal. Close observers of the process regularly refer to the ‘numbers game’ as a fundamental tenet of policy. This is perhaps unsurprising, as reducing numbers has been an ongoing discussion throughout the post-war period for all immigrant categories. However, under Labour, the concern has narrowed, applying to asylum seekers and the unauthorised, but not other groups, such as economic migrants or students. It is less surprising in the context of actual numbers.

Over the course of the 10 years under study, asylum applications followed a parabolic curve (see Figure 2 in the Introduction). Applications in 1997 (excluding dependants) totalled 32,500. By 1999, they had reached 71,160, and then 80,315 in 2000. A slight dip was followed by a peak of 84,130 in 2002, before a drop to 49,405 in 2003, 33,960 in 2004 and 25,710 in 2005 (Home Office 2006g, p 48). The most recent figures indicate a further decrease to 23,520 (Home Office, 2007d, p 2).

During its first term, Labour focused on reducing the number of fraudulent asylum claims. While the emphasis moved from fraudulent claims to the total number of asylum applications later on, in 2004, in effect policy was always concerned with reducing the overall total. From 2004, the policy priority formally became reducing the total number of claims after the Prime Minister made a personal commitment to halve the number of asylum applications ‘within a year’.

The focus on reducing asylum claims is not, however, the only part of the ‘numbers game’. The numbers game also includes the speed at which asylum claims are processed (the faster the better) and the numbers who are deported. The target on deportations has explicitly linked the numbers deported to the numbers claiming asylum. The so-called ‘tipping point target’ (where deportations of ‘failed applicants’ will be greater than unfounded claims) clearly shows that asylum seekers are the target group of this policy.