Over a third of asylum applications are made by migrants who entered the UK illegally or have overstayed their visas, new data has revealed.

Rather than applying for asylum when they first reach Britain, the figures suggest that a significant proportion of migrants are waiting until they are caught by immigration officers to make their application.

A total of 83,912 of the 231,100 main applications for asylum received in the decade between 2004 and 2014 were by migrants who were “encountered by local immigration and enforcement staff”, according to data provided by the Home Office in a written Commons reply.