TORY plans to clear some of the Home Office asylum backlog are “riddled with risk,” refugee rights campaigners have warned as new figures show a record 160,000 people in the queue.

Around 12,000 people from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Libya and Yemen — who have an asylum grant rate of over 95 per cent — will be sent a questionnaire to fill in instead of having a face-to-face interview. 

The Home Office says this streamlined process will reduce some of its caseload backlog, following a pledge by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.