Mahmood faces calls for compassion and clarity over hardline asylum policies

Home secretary urged to explain statement that asylum admissions will start at a few hundred' people

Shabana Mahmood is facing demands for compassion and clarity after it emerged that only a few hundred" asylum seekers would initially be permitted to come to the UK under three new schemes for refugees.

The home secretary had justified a series of hardline policies - such as the deportation of families and the confiscation of assets from claimants - by saying she would also open the safe and legal" routes for genuine" claimants.