The Tory Government has been accused of a "shameful level of incompetence" as alarming new data showed the UK's asylum backlog had reached a record 160,000.
Despite intense pressure to get a grip of the situation, the Home Office decided less than 1% of applications from people who arrived on small boats last year.
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures reveal that 160,919 people were waiting for an initial decision on their claim at the end of December - up 60% from a year earlier.
