The United Kingdom received over 108,000 asylum applications in 2024, the highest annual figure since records began in 2001, according to official data released on Thursday.
This represents an 18 per cent increase from the 91,811 applications recorded in 2023. The previous highest was in 2002, when 103,081 people sought asylum.
The surge comes amid rising pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to tackle migration issues. Starmer has promised stricter immigration policies, particularly targeting undocumented migrants arriving via the English Channel. His Labour government is also under scrutiny following the strong performance of the far-right Reform UK party in the last general election, where it secured about four million votes.
Pakistani nationals accounted for the largest share of asylum seekers at 9.7 per cent. Applications from Vietnamese nationals also more than doubled, rising to 5,259 from 2,469 in the previous year.
After assuming office in July 2024, Starmer scrapped the controversial Rwanda deportation plan introduced by former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Instead, he pledged to focus on dismantling people-smuggling networks and reducing illegal migration.
The UK’s Border Security and Asylum Minister, Angela Eagle, disclosed that efforts are being made to speed up asylum decisions and deport those with unsuccessful applications. By December 2024, about 124,802 people were still awaiting initial decisions on their asylum claims.
Eagle also stressed the government’s commitment to reducing legal migration, which stood at 728,000 in 2023–2024, a decline from the record 906,000 in the previous year. Additionally, the government is reviewing and tightening visa policies introduced by the previous administration.
Undocumented migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel accounted for 32 per cent of asylum claims in 2024, with 36,816 individuals making the journey from France to England, a slight increase from the previous year.
