Asylum seekers who should have been deported from the country cost £73 million to house and feed last year, new figures have disclosed.And there's no getting away from this as a purely Labour failure:
Ministers have admitted the significant increase in costs borne by the taxpayer – almost 20 times the £4 million spent four years ago – is due to a large backlog of failed claimants, who cannot be removed despite judges ruling they have no right to stay here.And it seems Shakespeare was spot on:
The rise was due to failed claimants becoming more aware they are entitled to receive benefits under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the spokesman said.
The Act says that those who can prove they are destitute can claim free accommodation and £35 a week in food vouchers.
Although the assistance is supposed to be temporary, most who qualify will continue to receive it as their lawyers engage in protracted legal battles against their removal.
Not quite sure why the border agents cannot be at the court waiting for them after the judges make their ruling?
ReplyDeleteHere's a bread roll, your bus back to Sierra Leone awaits.
Maybe repeal Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
ReplyDelete"Here's a bread roll, your bus back to Sierra Leone awaits."
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice thought. But I suppose the answer would be two words: 'immediate appeal'
"Maybe repeal Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999"
Yes!
The Bard's penchant for the profession was also evident in "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers".
ReplyDeleteHere's a bread roll, your bus back to Sierra Leone awaits.
ReplyDeleteDunno about that. The R.A.F COULD give them a lift. Hercules C-130. General direction of Africa, open ramp "Now where was it you wanted dropping off?"
Von Brandenburg-Preußen.
Bloody benefits system.
ReplyDelete