The Government said on Friday it was determined to end the “asylum merry-go-round” and could look at toughening up expulsion rules for refugees in light of the Abdul Ezedi case.
Officials under Home Secretary James Cleverly were understood to be looking at the timeline of how the Afghan corrosive attack suspect managed to win asylum.
But critics said any Home Office inquisition should focus on violence against women, not on asylum claimants, the vast majority of whom do not commit crimes.
Children and Families Minister David Johnston was pressed on why Ezedi was given leave to stay despite two failed asylum applications and a conviction for a sex offence, after he claimed to have converted to Christianity.
“I think the details that have been reported are as concerning to me as they are to all of your listeners,” he told LBC.
The focus for now must be on tracking him down, the minister said when asked whether asylum claimants convicted of non-custodial offences could be expelled in future.
“But I think the details of what exactly has happened will then be looked at and I think everybody will share that view (on expulsion for shorter sentences) if that turns out to be the case.”
Ezedi is understood to have been given a 40-week suspended sentence in Newcastle with a community work obligation for a sex offence. At the time in 2018, only a custodial sentence of two years or more would bar someone from claiming asylum. The minimum sentence now stands at 12 months.
The minister added: “What I do know is the British public have been very frustrated by hearing these sorts of stories over recent years, which is why we’re determined to end the asylum merry-go-round.
“And that’s what the Safety of Rwanda Bill is all about,” he said, insisting the legislation currently enduring a stormy passage through the House of Lords would end “endless” legal appeals by asylum claimants.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to comment further while the police manhunt is underway.
But he told reporters that broadly, Rishi Sunak “doesn’t think that foreign criminals should be able to stay in the country, putting the public at risk”.
The spokesman added: "It was a horrific attack and the PM's thoughts are with the victims and their families, and he'd like to extend his thanks to the emergency services for the very quick response to the scene and the five officers who were injured in the incident."
On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick attacked “well-meaning but naive” vicars who support asylum applicants on religious grounds, after it emerged that Ezedi finally won asylum by saying he was now a Christian and feared persecution in Afghanistan.
It drew comparisons to Iraqi-born Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, who died in November 2021 when his homemade bomb detonated in a taxi outside a Liverpool hospital.
He went to considerable lengths to stay in the UK, including converting to Christianity to support his failed asylum claim.
But Jacqueline McKenzie, head of immigration and asylum law at solicitors Leigh Day, said she was “quite surprised that the whole debate is framed around the asylum laws” when Britain has a dismal record on acid attacks against women.
She stressed that many claims of religious persecution were “absolutely genuine”, noting that the Taliban in Afghanistan execute anyone found guilty of converting out of Islam.
