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The Home Secretary defended Britain’s suspension of all decisions on asylum claims from Syria, saying it was “important that we just stand back and let events play out a bit”.
Ms Angela Eagle said the situation in the Middle Eastern country was “very volatile”, arguing that the Home Office “cannot judge someone’s asylum claim when the country they are fleeing is in such turmoil”.
But she admitted that it is too early to tell if it is the collapse of the Assad regime will improve the situation.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime at the weekend, is banned in the UK because of its previous links to al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization once led by Osama bin Laden.
But its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, cut ties with al-Qaeda years ago and has sought to present his group as a more moderate and inclusive organization.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Dame Angela said: “At the moment we hope that the fall of this brutal regime will lead to a better outcome in Syria, but it is too early to say.
“But what is certain is that we cannot judge someone’s asylum claim when the country they are fleeing from is in such turmoil and the regime they fled from has disappeared. The important thing is that we just stop and let the events play out a little bit.”
It comes amid criticism of the government’s decision to suspend asylum decisions, with Amnesty International saying that “the human rights situation in [Syria] completely unclear.”
The Minister of Border Security and Asylum said that the decision was made because “all those who sought asylum in the last few years were fleeing the Assad regime and that was their reason for seeking asylum.
“That regime has now fallen and so there is a very fluid situation going on in Syria.”
Millions of Syrians left the country after the outbreak of the civil war and the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on its opponents.
Syrians generated the fifth highest number of asylum applications in the year ending September 2024, Home Office statistics showed – behind Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Bangladesh. About 99 percent of requests are approved at the initial decision.
Dame Angela said it was impossible to say how long the decisions would be put on hold because the government could not predict what the country would look like under her the new regime.
Asked how long the decisions would be suspended, she said: “When regimes fall, there is often a vacuum. It may take time to settle down and bring a new approach, so it’s impossible to say right now.”
The decision to suspend asylum applications followed similar action by other countries, including Germany, Austria and Sweden, after 13 years of civil war a coalition of rebel groups captured Damascus on Sunday.
A Home Office A spokesman said: “The Home Office has paused decisions on Syrian asylum applications while we assess the current situation. We are constantly reviewing all countries’ guidelines for asylum applications in order to be able to answer new questions.”
On Monday, a Downing Street spokesman said the government was considering whether to keep HTS on the list of banned organisations.
The official said the situation was “under regular review” but confirmed the government could not contact them until they were no longer a banned group.
“As for HTS, they are banned in the UK, after being added in 2017 as an Al Qaeda alias. The government does not routinely comment in detail on the list of banned organizations, but as you know, we keep our regime under regular review,” the spokesman said.