Labour accused of handing 'effective amnesty' to people arriving illegally in Britain as 70,000 migrants set to be given asylum in UK

Tens of thousands of illegal migrants will get asylum in the UK after Yvette Cooper scrapped the Rwanda scheme.

The Home Secretary said she would allow officials to process the claims of up to 120,000 people who the last government said would never be allowed to settle here.

The Refugee Council said it could result in 70,000 people being granted asylum, but the Conservatives said the figure could be as high as 90,000.

Former home secretary James Cleverly accused Ms Cooper of introducing an 'effective amnesty' which would only encourage more people to risk the perilous journey across the Channel. 

But Ms Cooper told MPs the change in the law would save the taxpayer £7.7 billion in reduced accommodation costs for asylum seekers, adding that only a 'small minority' might ever have been sent to Rwanda.

The Home Secretary said all those who could be safely removed to their home countries would be sent back, with deportation flights starting this week. 

But thousands are from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan, which are deemed too dangerous to return people to in most cases.

Ms Cooper also admitted that the high levels of small-boat crossings were 'likely to persist over the summer'. 

Official figures show that 2,258 migrants have arrived since Labour took office less than three weeks ago. 

Mr Cleverly accused Ms Cooper of acting on 'ideological grounds' to scrap the Rwanda scheme, 'removing a deterrent that the National Crime Agency said we needed'.

And he mocked the Home Secretary's plan for a new Border Security Command to tackle the smuggling gangs, saying the same function already existed.

'Labour has given an effective amnesty to thousands of asylum seekers who were banned under Conservative plans,' he said.

'Labour's plans amount to doing less than the Conservatives were doing when we were in government, merely changing the signs above a few desks in the Home Office with its so-called Border Security Command and returns unit.' 

Mr Cleverly said Labour's decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme left Britain with no safe third country where people could be removed to.

He added: 'Where will the Home Secretary send people who come here from countries like Afghanistan, Iran and Syria? Has she started negotiating returns agreements with the Taliban, the ayatollahs of Iran or Assad in Syria?

'If she is not going to send to Rwanda anyone who arrives here on a small boat, to which local authorities will she send them?'

But Ms Cooper savaged the Rwanda scheme as an expensive flop. She said the Tories had spent £700 million on it and had succeeded in sending only four migrants who volunteered to go.

She claimed forecasts showed the scheme could eventually cost £10 billion – and said she had informed the Rwandan government that it would be halted immediately.

Under the terms of last year's Illegal Migration Act, anyone arriving illegally in the UK since March last year has been ineligible to have a claim for asylum processed. It has resulted in a sharp rise in the backlog of cases to an estimated 120,000.

Refugee Council research suggests an average asylum grant rate of 62 per cent last year. A similar rate would see more than 70,000 migrants granted asylum.

Council chief executive Enver Solomon said Labour had inherited an 'untenable' situation, adding: 'It is vital that care is taken to look at each case on its merits, and not assume that every person from a particular country shouldn't be given protection.'