Yvette Cooper has criticised Suella Braverman for citing incorrect figures in the House of Commons and then refusing to correct them.
The home secretary claimed that the backlog of people awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claim has reduced on Monday afternoon, but the number has actually gone up by a significant margin.
She said: “The asylum initial decision backlog is down by 17,000, and we are on track to abolish all legacy cases by the end of this year, having doubled the number of asylum decision-makers over the last two years.”
Making a point of order after the statement, Cooper said: “(Ms Braverman) said the asylum initial decision backlog is down by 17,000, whereas the Home Office official statistics say the asylum initial backlog is now over 170,000, up from 160,000 in December.
“So the facts are, the asylum initial decision backlog is up over 10,000, not down by 17,000.
“I know there was a lot of nonsense in what the home secretary said, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, but this is about facts, the facts given to parliament.
“Will she now withdraw this incorrect statement that she has made because her facts are wrong?”
Deputy speaker Eleanor Laing asked the home secretary if she wished to say anything in response, but Braverman, who was sitting on the government front bench, shook her head.
Some 172,758 people were waiting for an initial decision on asylum applications at the end of March, up 57 per cent from a year earlier and the highest figure since comparable records began in 2010, according to Home Office figures.
Posting on Twitter after the debate, Alastair Campbell said: “So facts don’t matter. Misleading the Commons is fine. Nobody can force.”