THE number of people claiming asylum in the UK has dropped dramatically, according to Home Office figures.

The closure of the Sangatte refugee centre in Calais is being cited as one of the chief reasons for the fall. Many asylum seekers entered the UK through Kent ports like Dover when the centre was open.

According to the Home Office, there was an average of 5,330 claims in each of the first three months of the year. That is more than a third fewer claims than were made in the previous three months.

Dover Labour MP Gwyn Prosser said the decline was so dramatic that asylum seekers from other parts of the country were now being “bussed in” to Kent to fill empty spaces in the town’s induction centre.

He attributed the fall to a combination of factors, including stricter controls and checks by the French authorities on lorries and the designation of 17 new “safe” countries which had curtailed the activities of asylum trafficers.

Mr Blair, who was asked by Mr Prosser about the figures during Prime Minister’s Questions, insisted the problems experienced by Dover would diminish as the Government’s crackdown continued.

Mr Blair said: “The reason we are working so hard to get the numbers down is to relieve the pressure in places like Dover.”

However, Maidstone and Weald MP Ann Widdecombe questioned the figures. In a BBC radio interview, she said: “I would be more inclined to accept these figures if we could get some answers about the number of work permits that have been issued, about the number of open-ended visas that have been issued.”

Mr Prosser said claims the figures had been manipulated were “nonsense".

Asylum claims reached a record 110,000 last year – a rise which prompted Mr Blair’s pledge to halve the 9,000 who claimed asylum in October last year.