Asylum-seekers lose the right to work

Asylum-seekers' right to work in Britain is likely to be abolished under controversial plans aimed at deterring illegal immigrants from entering the country.

Asylum-seekers' right to work in Britain is likely to be abolished under controversial plans aimed at deterring illegal immigrants from entering the country.

In one of its most hardline immigration policies to date, the Home Office is planning to end the so-called employment concession that allows asylum claimants to take paid work while waiting for a decision on their case. Ministers believe the practice, which currently gives 44,000 asylum-seekers permission to work, attracts those who are economic rather than political migrants.

The move to abolish the concession is sure to be opposed bitterly by refugee groups worried that Labour is trying to appear tougher than the Tories on an electoral issue. It is the first concrete example of ministers responding to Tony Blair's fear in a leaked memo that asylum was one of the "touchstone issues" where the Government was perceived as "soft" by the public.

Only last week, the HomeOffice claimed it welcomed economic migrants when it unveiled a new scheme to attract entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas.

Britain is one of the few countries in Europe that allows asylum-seekers to work for a living. A Home Office spokesman said that France, Italy, Ireland, Denmark all refuse to let asylum-seekers work, while Germany, Austria and Spain only allow it in exceptional circumstances. Only Luxembourg has a policy similar to the UK's, with no restrictions on the type of work or amount earned.

According to the Home Office, 30,000 people who claimed asylum on entering Britain have permission to work at present. A further 14,000 who applied after they arrived have been granted the concession in the past 12 months. Many asylum-seekers are allowed to work because of the delays in processing their cases, which take on average 13 months to be resolved.

Ministers believe the concession, introduced by the Tories in 1986, will become redundant as the Home Office meets its new target for 70 per cent of all new asylum claims to be given an initial decision within two months. Barbara Roche, the Immigration minister, said she was reviewingthe need for the concession, "particularly in the light of the substantial progress we are making to speed up asylum decisions".

Senior Home Office sources told The Independent that plans were well under way to abolish the right to work. One said: "We're determined to end it. It's an anomaly that acts like a magnet for bogus claimants."

The Government is already spending an extra £600m on tackling the huge backlog of asylum applications to try to kill off immigration as a damaging issue before the general election. By beefing up its Immigration and Nationality Directorate, the Home Office hopes to clear an unprecedented 150,000 asylum applications by next March.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said plans to review the concession were "extremely disturbing. All the evidence is that asylum-seekers would prefer to work. These people pay their way and are not a drain on the state in benefits and contribute to both their own finances and skills while they are waiting decisions on their case. They don't normally take jobs from other people," he said. "Even if the decision goes against them, the benefit to everybody is that they go home with some savings and skills."

The Home Office unveiled a new automated fingerprinting system for asylum-seekers yesterday. Ministers hope the new system will speed the processing of cases and prevent people reapplying.