Inherited Tory asylum backlog ‘costing us billions’ – Home Secretary

We spoke to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper from the Blenheim conference, and asked if the new path on illegal migration that the Prime Minister spoke of today implies that in return for sending asylum seekers back to France, the UK will take in a share from the European Union.

Yvette Cooper: The topic for discussion here in Blenheim today is going after the organised criminal gangs, the gangs that are organising the dangerous boat crossings that are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. We want to develop new security partnerships with Europe, that’s crucially important. To be honest, if you don’t have action to go after those criminal gangs, then anything else that you do won’t work, because those gangs are the ones who have networks right across Europe and beyond, right through to the hills of Kurdistan and the money markets of Kabul.

Cathy Newman: Is there an acknowledgement that the UK will take its share of asylum seekers in return for sending others back?

Yvette Cooper: I think what most people want to see are strong border security and a properly controlled and managed asylum system so that the UK does its bit to help those who have fled persecution, but so that the rules are properly enforced and that those who have no right to be here are swiftly returned.

Cathy Newman: I get that, but I wonder whether ‘doing our bit’, as you put it, involves accepting, for example, child refugees who have come off the small boats but have relatives here in the UK.

Yvette Cooper: So we used to have the Dublin agreement that used to provide for some returns from the UK to Europe, and also to provide for children in other European countries, unaccompanied child refugees who had family in the UK, to be able to rejoin their family rather than being exploited by people smugglers. So we’ve always said that that’s an important issue. However, the issue today and the issue right now is not that, it is security arrangements. That we haven’t had that proper cooperation around law enforcement. We’ve seen a whole series of examples where we could have had stronger action to go after some of the supply lines, some of the way the boats are being shipped to the north French coast, where we need that intervention. We have already immediately increased the UK officers based in Europol to strengthen that partnership to get the new operational task forces, have stronger UK partnership in those, and to start immediately recruiting for the UK Border Security Command.

Cathy Newman: Let’s look at the scale of the problem that you’ve inherited. More than a thousand migrants have arrived by small boats since you took power, and that adds to an asylum backlog of nearly 120,000 as of the end of March.

Yvette Cooper: We will need to clear the backlog of asylum claims that we have inherited from the Conservatives because they are costing us billions of pounds…

Cathy Newman: So how long does that take?

Yvette Cooper: We need to make sure that we can clear that backlog. We will need to do so as swiftly as possible. But we also need to set up a new returns and enforcement unit. We started that immediately as well. Returns of failed asylum cases, which is just about enforcing the rules, had dropped by around 40% under the Conservatives.

Cathy Newman: Just finally, I know this is a subject that you will feel strongly about. Dame Vera Baird has reported the independent inquiry into women and girls strip searched by Greater Manchester Police. Her evidence is pretty shocking. A domestic abuse victim, for example, soaked in blood because she wasn’t offered sanitary products. I just wondered, having read that report, as I’m sure you have, do you have confidence in the Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson?

Yvette Cooper: This is a deeply disturbing report and I thank Vera Baird for doing this report, and I strongly support the commitments that Stephen Watson and the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, have made to turn this around and the work that they are already doing to improve Greater Manchester Police. It’s really important that we have high standards in policing. We want to make sure that that happens nationally and so the Labour government will be passing new legislation, again as part of the King’s Speech, we’ll be passing new legislation which will include higher standards around policing. But we also need to make sure that Greater Manchester Police are taking action in response to that. I know that both the chief constable and the mayor are committed to doing so because there are very troubling conclusions from that report.

Cathy Newman: So you do have full confidence in him?

Yvette Cooper: Yes, I think he’s doing a good job and I think he will continue to do so.