Key plank of new UK asylum law dropped to cut backlog

Home Office will no longer distinguish between people arriving by irregular means and other asylum seekers

Rishi Sunak has quietly dropped a key plank of last year's asylum law that introduced a two-tier refugee system and made lives tougher for tens of thousands of people who arrived in the UK via small boats.

In a move to cut the asylum backlog, the Home Office said in a written statement on Thursday that it would no longer differentiate between people who arrive by irregular means, such as those who come across the Channel, and other asylum seekers, as had been stipulated in last year's Nationality and Borders Act.