The Home Secretary is ploughing ahead with plans to increase removals to Syria despite the UK Government highlighting “deeply concerning” violence, mass displacement of civilians and a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria. The Nordic country deports 95 per cent of failed asylum seekers and has pushed asylum claims down to a 40-year low. Syria removals are expected to follow in the coming months. If removals to Syria are carried out on a mass scale it could help Mahmood move people on from the asylum backlog and out of accommodation such as hotels. “Far from solving the asylum backlog, trying to remove people before Syria is safe will just shift the pressure to the appeals system.