The Home Secretary has said guidance related to decisions on Syrian asylum claims is under “constant review” as the UK continues to monitor the “fast-moving” situation.
Yvette Cooper also said there are “initial signs” of people wanting to return to Syria from Turkey, although she told MPs that the situation remains “very unstable”.
The UK has paused decisions on asylum applications from Syrians following the collapse of the Assad regime.
Making a statement to the Commons, Ms Cooper said: “As the Foreign Secretary (David Lammy) told the House, we welcome the fall of the Assad regime, but we continue to monitor closely this fast-moving situation where there is significant risk of instability.
We continue to monitor closely this fast moving situation where there is significant risk of instability.
“Considering this, I have taken the decision to temporarily pause decisions on Syrian asylum claims. All five Calais group countries have taken the same decision.
“We will, of course, continue to keep all guidance relating to these asylum claims under constant review, and we will keep the House updated in the normal way.”
Millions of Syrians fled the country after the outbreak of civil war and the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on opponents.
Immigration minister Dame Angela Eagle said on Tuesday that there are 6,500 asylum claims from Syrians still outstanding.
For the Tories, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that he thought Syrians who have claimed asylum in the UK on the grounds of threats posed by Assad’s government could return once the country was declared “safe”.
Mr Philp said: “Will the Home Secretary agree that given most, if not all, of these asylum claims are predicated on the threat posed to the individual by former president Assad, now that threat has gone and the basis for the asylum claim has gone, it would be reasonable to ask those Syrians claiming asylum on that basis, or recently granted asylum on that basis, to return once safe?”
Ms Cooper replied: “There are some important decisions, issues around the decisions on asylum cases for Syria.
“Let’s be clear, most of the claims, many of the claims that have been made, have been made against the Assad regime for asylum, which is clearly not in place.
“It would therefore not be appropriate to be granting asylum decisions on those cases in the current circumstances.
“We do need to monitor the evolving situation so that we can get new country guidance in place and so that we can take those decisions, but we will do that in a sensible and serious way, which is about getting the asylum and the immigration systems back in control.”
The Liberal Democrats called on the Government to offer asylum seekers certainty about their claims “as soon as possible”.
Immigration spokesperson Lisa Smart said there should be a three-month average waiting time for asylum claims to be processed.
Ms Smart said: “The UK should be doing all it can to help secure an orderly transition of power in Syria in accordance with international law.
“The Government should move to offer these asylum seekers, and others, certainty about their claims as soon as possible.”
The Home Secretary said: “We have substantially increased the pace of decisions, it had just plummeted by about 70% just before the election.
“We have got the extra caseworkers in place, we have got decisions back up now to where they were. That now allows us to clear the backlog on initial decisions.”
The exchanges came as Ms Cooper made a Commons statement on international collaboration on border security.
She said the Government’s border security agreement with Germany was the “first of its kind”, as the measure is aimed at stopping small boat crossings.
She said it would involve more co-operation, intelligence sharing and the National Crime Agency using the Siena Europol system to share information with German police to aid investigation.
“The joint action plan means strengthening the law in Germany to tackle people smugglers. We know that gangs are routing many supply chains through Germany, including using warehouses to store boats and engines that are destined for the Channel,” she said.
She added: “So instead of those failures of the past, this Government has a serious and sensible plan to strengthen our border security, and fix our broken asylum system. A plan based on grip, not gimmicks and on serious international partnership.”
