UK Home Secretary Calls for Reduction of Asylum Claims Made in Britain

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UK Home Secretary Theresa May on Tuesday called for the number of asylum applications made in the country to be reduced while at the same time increasing the help provided to refugees in conflict-torn countries.

"I want us to work to reduce the asylum claims made in Britain, and…increase the number of people we help in the most troubled regions," May said at the Conservative Party Conference.

May said an annual asylum strategy would be presented next year to outline where UK aid would be allocated and how the government would deal with those who abused it.

The UK home secretary pledged to establish a register of individuals and entities able to provide accommodation to refugees, develop a scheme for individuals, charities, and businesses providing direct refugee support, as well as to alleviate the burden on local services by using the aid budget and other funds.

In September, the European Commission announced a mandatory quota system to relocate some 160,000 refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and North Africa who had arrived primarily in Italy, Greece and Hungary, within the EU states.

British Prime Minister David Cameron rejected his country's involvement in the quota scheme, pledging instead that the United Kingdom would accept 20,000 migrants from refugee camps in states neighbouring Syria over the next five years.