Legal aid spending on immigration cases reached £18.8 million between April and June, a 40 per cent increase on the same period last year. Completed cases also rose by 27 per cent to more than 19,000, with the Ministry of Justice saying much of the remaining work was asylum-related.

The increase is likely linked to a growing backlog of asylum appeals, which exceeded 90,000 cases, up 51 per cent annually. Conservative shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy blamed court rulings and ECHR provisions, particularly Article 8, while wider asylum-related costs exceeded £4 billion in 2025-26, with independent estimates reaching £8 billion.