DAVID HAIGH: As a human-rights lawyer who has worked on a number of internationally renowned cases focused on the Middle East, I am the first port of call for many in the Arab region seeking asylum in Britain. And sad though I am to write this, the unpalatable truth is that I believe about 80 per cent of the people who have approached me are not genuine claimants. That's why I applaud elements of Suella Braverman's speech in Washington yesterday in which she declared that merely being gay or female and fearful of discrimination should no longer automatically amount to grounds for asylum. I have not always agreed with everything that the Home Secretary has said, but she is right to point out that where once asylum seekers had to show they were facing 'persecution', now they must prove only the woollier charge of 'discrimination'. This word is open to widespread interpretation and has effectively opened the floodgates to false claims. Mail.
Blogger: the figure was 90% according to former Labour Home Secretary, David Blunkett, in his day.
