A record 111,000 asylum claims were lodged in the first year since Labour gained power, smashing the previous all-time high by 8,000, new data shows.The Home Office said 111,084 people claimed asylum in the year to June, up 14 per cent on the previous 12 months.It surpassed the peak of 103,000 in 2002 during the ‘asylum crisis’ under Tony Blair’s government.In another major development, the number of foreign nationals extending their visas to stay in Britain topped one million for the first time.The data showed a 28 per cent leap in the number of visa extensions to 1,041,786, up nearly 230,000 in a year.One in four of the total asylum claims, 43,600, were made by small boat migrants.The rest came here clandestinely, such as stowing away in a lorry, which accounted for 11 per cent of claims, or arrived here legally such as on a visa and then claimed to be refugees.The top five nationalities for asylum claimants overall was Pakistani, Afghan, Iranian, Eritrean and Bangladeshi.
But Eritreans have come to dominate the Channel route - making up the largest nationality in the first six months of this year, at 3,543, followed by Afghans with 2,318.The data covers the first year after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the previous government's Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter Channel crossings.
