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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

Key plank of new UK asylum law dropped to cut backlog

A group of people rescued in the Channel are brought to Dover onboard a Border Force vessel in May
A group of people rescued in the Channel are brought to Dover onboard a Border Force vessel in May. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Rishi Sunak has quietly dropped a key plank of last year’s asylum law that introduced a two-tier refugee system and made lives tougher for tens of thousands of people who arrived in the UK via small boats.

In a move to cut the asylum backlog, the Home Office said in a written statement on Thursday that it would no longer differentiate between people who arrived by irregular means, such as those who crossed the Channel, and other asylum seekers, as had been stipulated in last year’s Nationality and Borders Act.

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