UK would like to facilitate return of refugees to Syria, says minister

Angela Eagle: ‘We need to wait a little bit before we try to recommence asylum decisions in a territory where things are changing so rapidly.’ Photograph: Ben Cawthra/Rex/Shutterstock

The Home Office would like to facilitate the return of refugees to Syria, a minister has said, saying about 6,500 asylum claims had been suspended as the government waited to assess the fallout from the end of the Assad regime.

The immigration minister Angela Eagle said many refugees had been fleeing from the persecution and torture inflicted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime and said that if people wished to return to Syria from the UK “we’d certainly like to facilitate that”.