Will Brexit affect asylum claims in the UK?

Leaving the EU may have been seen as a way to limit unauthorised immigration but, says social affairs correspondent May Bulman, taking back control isn’t so straightforward

Divisive: Nigel Farage unveils his immigration poster in June 2016 (AFP/Getty)

The refugee crisis played a significant role in the debate leading up to the EU referendum. Nigel Farage’s controversial “Breaking Point” poster of asylum seekers queueing on the Croatia-Slovenia border stoked immigration fears felt by many on the Leave side, and there is little doubt many will have voted to leave the EU in the belief that it would lead to fewer people coming to Britain to ask for asylum.

But the reality is quite different. In actual fact, there is strong reason to believe that leaving the EU is likely to result in a rise in refugees in the UK.

When Britain leaves the EU it will almost certainly withdraw from the bloc’s common European asylum system (CEAS). Within this system is the Dublin regulation, which allows countries to remove asylum seekers to the member state to which they arrived first. The UK currently makes around 600 such removals each year – but after withdrawing from the agreement this will no longer be possible.