The first effects of the implementation of the widely criticised section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 were reported by health services in east Kent this week.

Dr Peter Le Feuvre, a GP in Dover, has criticised the new asylum rules as “grossly inhumane”

TESSA NEWMARK

So far 36 asylum seekers in the area who applied for asylum after having arrived in the United Kingdom, as opposed to applying at the port of entry, have been denied benefit support and accommodation, under new government plans to get tough on asylum seekers. The number of asylum seekers presenting to services as destitute is rising by the day, say health service representatives in East Kent.

“As of eight days ago we have noted a sharp rise in cases of asylum seekers who have been refused social support from the Home Office's National Asylum Support Service,” said Dr Peter Le Feuvre, a GP in Dover. “They are still allowed to go on and claim political asylum, but they are being given seven day eviction notices from the Home Office accommodation centres, so they have no money and nowhere to live …