ABSTRACT
Prior to 1993, there was no primary legislation dealing specifically with asylum in Britain. Though asylum was mentioned in the immigration rules, British governments tended to respond on an ad hoc basis to the issues raised by particular groups of refugees, such as the Chileans in 1973 and the Vietnamese boat-people a few years later. However, the late 1980s and early 1990s saw some important changes. The number of applications increased from 4,000 in 1988 to 11,640 in 1989, 26,205 in 1990, and 44,840 in 1991. In addition, from constituting only a small percentage of entrants they had become within only a few years the largest single category (excluding visitors and transit passengers). And perhaps most significantly, these changes occurred at a time of political upheaval in Europe. Just as the European Community was moving towards a single market by abolishing border controls within the Community, the borders to the East opened and war began in Yugoslavia. These events combined to place asylum and asylum seekers firmly on the British political and policy agenda.
