Britain's 40,000 migrant crossings are manageable, suggests UN refugee chief
Mr Grandi warns the right to seek asylum is “under threat around the world”
The outgoing leader of the UN Refugee Agency has suggested that Britain should be able to cope with 40,000 refugees a year.
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Filippo Grandi said that the number of small boat arrivals in the UK last year represented only a small number compared with the figures faced by other countries.
According to official figures, the number of migrants arriving in Britain by small boats this year has now passed 41,000.
Mr Grandi, who will be stepping down at the end of the month, was elected as UNHCR high commissioner for refugees in 2016.
The 68-year-old urged Western Governments to provide more funding for the UN Refugee Agency, warning that the right to seek asylum was “under threat around the world”.
“There is nothing that creates a hostile environment [for refugees] as much as a badly organised welcome, and unfortunately we’ve seen that,” said Mr Grandi.
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The Italian diplomat blamed previous Conservative governments for creating a sense of “chaos” around immigration, attributing this to fuelling public hostility.
“In the UK, the small boats and the challenges of dealing with these people — and some of the choices that were made, which the Government is now trying to correct — have conveyed the wrong impression that this brings chaos.”
The number of small boat crossings this year has caused a significant challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs”.
Labour has pledged to clear the backlog and move all asylum seekers out of hotels by the end of the decade.
Mr Grandi said the number of people who crossed the Channel last year was equivalent to the “daily arrivals” of refugees in countries like Chad.
He said immigration in the West “to be organised much better” - including returning individuals who did not qualify for asylum.
Mr Grandi went on to say that the failure of these systems could be "dangerous".