SIR - Whilst I share with Phil Lee (T&A letters, September 2) the desire to see the new government processing asylum applications more efficiently and speedily, Mr Lee's letter was marked by a total lack of compassion. All the emphasis was on bouncing failed asylum seekers out of this country with a stated ambition of “50,000 per year”.

We should never forget that roughly two in three applications for asylum are granted. These are people who have fled war, violence and terror, some of whom now suffer declining mental health as they languish in hotels. They deserve our sympathy and support.

Enver Solomon , the CEO of The Refugee Council, reports that half the people in hotels come from five countries with high asylum grant rates: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria. His letter in the current issue of Prospect magazine points out that “granting asylum to people from those countries...could save 89per cent of hotel usage...saving £5 million per day”.

Let us not focus exclusively on driving failed asylum seekers out of the UK but consider also how to treat better those who will (more speedily ?) go on to be granted asylum. In this we all share a common humanity.

John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon