Rise comes despite applications being processed much faster than two years ago as backlog falls below 100,000 for first time since 2021

Though the asylum backlog is at its lowest level since 2021, the government is still housing over 100,000 asylum seekers. A third of these are in hotels, which cost millions a day.

Official government data shows 111,084 people claimed asylum in the year to June, up 14 per cent on the previous 12 months.