Weekly Blog - 29 January 2026 - Asylum Fact and Fiction
Asylum looks set to be a big political issue in the UK this year, like last year and the year before. It’s a heated topic, where emotions often become disconnected from the real data and evidence. Ben Niblett looks at the facts to help us make sense of it.
What are the facts?
Most immigrants come to Britain legally, to study, work, join family or for other reasons. Some claim asylum later, most don’t. But it’s the much smaller number of people coming illegally to claim asylum that is the main political issue. From July 2024 - June 2025, 111,000 people claimed asylum in the UK, the most ever. 898,000 people altogether came to live in the UK in those 12 months, and 693,000 emigrated out of the UK.
Of those 111,000 asylum seekers, 43,000 came on small boats across the Channel (government figures again) and that’s the bit that most worries people, partly because it’s a dangerous journey, partly because it boosts organised crime, but mostly because it feels like a loss of control in an unstable world. A majority of Brits want to offer refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but not like this, according to More in Common polling.
Escape routes
Most illegal migrants to the UK claim asylum and get it – two thirds, over the last 6 years, according to Refugee Action’s handy FAQ.
The key fact is that it’s legal to travel illegally if you do it to claim asylum. This was part of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which Britain put into law in 1954, when Winston Churchill was prime minister. If someone made it through the Iron Curtain or out of North Korea, western Europe or South Korea let them in even if they’d stowed away or dug a tunnel and didn’t have a passport. Britain has safe routes for refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong to come here directly – 25,000 did in the 12 months up to June 2025 – and we used to have safe routes for Syria and Afghanistan. But entering illegally is the main way most genuine refugees have to reach Britain. A student, work or tourist visa is another way to get in before making an asylum claim, but these routes are only open to some. You’re not allowed to claim asylum from overseas.
One way to stop the boats would be to provide safe ships from Calais or tickets on Eurostar; flights from Kiev are better still, but there isn’t a way to run refugee flights to Britain from the likes of Tehran or Kabul whose governments might like to arrest anyone who tried to catch the plane.
Most refugees don’t come to the UK; around 1% of the world’s refugees arrive here, according to the Refugee Council. It’s an expensive and dangerous journey for most, often with the Mediterranean on the way, much bigger and riskier to cross than the Channel. Countries like Colombia, Uganda, or Turkey which are next to conflicts or failed states take much greater numbers. Britain is a rich country, richer than Turkey and far richer than Uganda, and isn’t near taking our fair share of the world’s refugees. The other big countries in Europe – Germany, France, Spain and Italy - all take more than the UK.
A place to stay
The £2.1 billion the government spent on asylum hotels last year is a lot, but it’s only 0.0016% of overall government spending. It’s falling from the peak two years ago, with 32,000 asylum seekers housed in hotels at the start of 2025. Staying in a luxury hotel for months sounds lovely, but these aren’t luxury hotels – asylum seekers often report there isn’t much privacy, sometimes not enough food or much cleaning, and very little money, usually £9.95 a week for those in hotels, with meals provided, or £49.18 for those in houses.
Miguel (not his real name) and family fled to Britain from their Central American country after being targeted by organised crime. He told the Refugee Council, ‘We’re stuck in the asylum process. I was expecting a fairly quick answer – a process where we would submit the evidence, state our case, and the decision would be made. Instead, we spent year after year just waiting for the Home Office to make their decision. You can’t drive and you can’t work. My wife is a doctor, she started suffering from depression and anxiety. She could be working. Meanwhile she’s losing her abilities and skills.’
Nearly two thirds of asylum seekers are adult men, about a fifth are adult women, and under a fifth are children. So changing the rules and allowing adults to do paid work and pay taxes and rent would be one way to save the government money and cut the need for hotels, although it could also encourage more people to come, and would increase competition for jobs. Investing in processing claims faster and better would probably help too.
But asylum in the UK is not the best way to get shelter to people forced to leave their homes. We could serve more refugees better by reversing the cuts to the aid budget, helping low-income countries to develop, and funding support for refugees in countries near their own – such as Syrian refugees in Lebanon. All of this would be much cheaper than funding refugees here, would reach refugees who couldn’t afford to pay smugglers to get them to the UK, would shrink the smuggling gangs, and would avoid people drowning in the Channel and the Med. The Arise Manifesto (Chapter 4: Social Justice) sets out why mass economic migration is a bad idea, aid done well is a great idea, and all people fleeing war or persecution deserve a warm welcome, not just those who can pay smugglers.
Go into all the world
Jesus told us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15) – often called the Great Commission – and part of that can be bringing the gospel to people from all nations who come to Britain. People from countries like Iran, Iraq, or Eritrea where the church is tiny and persecuted and the chance of hearing the gospel is low want to take refuge in Britain (and similar countries) where the church is stronger and free to share the good news. This seems like a good evangelistic strategy, and Part 2 of the Arise Manifesto has a fuller story of which it can be part. Of course a minority of asylum seekers are Christians, some fleeing persecution for their faith.
As asylum continues to be a hot topic, with passion and rhetoric leaving facts far behind, it’s good to be equipped with truth. Christian groups working with refugees in the UK, like the Sanctuary Foundation or the Jesuit Refugee Service, or secular ones like the Refugee Council, are all good places to hear how the system looks from the inside, how to pray and have good conversations about it; and good places to donate to.
Find out more
Arise Manifesto – Find out more about how engaging with difficult issues like asylum and migration in an informed and compassionate way is a major part of our calling and mission as Christians, in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world.
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