In a tacit admission that the migrant crisis will continue for the foreseeable future, British Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the government plans to continue to use so-called “asylum hotels” until 2029.
In her Spending Review plans for the rest of this parliament, Finance chief Rachel Reeves attempted to cast the Labour government as being tough on migration, announcing that the recently-formed Border Security Command will receive £280 million per year to combat illegal migration in the English Channel.
However, in a statement which seemingly undermines Prime Minsiter Sir Keir Starmer’s vow to “smash the gangs” of people smugglers and end the human trafficking trade from France, Chancellor Reeves said that the government will only seek to end the use of migrant hotels by 2029.
“I can confirm today that, led by the work of the home secretary, we will be ending the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers, in this parliament,” she said according to The Times.
“Funding that I have provided today, including from the Transformation Fund, will cut the asylum backlog, hear more appeal cases, and return people who have no right to be here, saving the taxpayer £1 billion per year.”
The use of hotels to house illegal migrants, which began in earnest under the previous Conservative government, has become a growing social and financial issue, with costs of the programme spiralling and local residents becoming increasingly angered over the impacts on their communities.
The previous Conservative government had told the public that it would pay private contractors an estimated £4.5 billion in taxpayer money to run the migrant hotel scheme from 2019 to 2029.
However, a report published in May from the National Audit Office found that the cost of the programme is more likely to be £15.3 billion over the ten years. Indeed, last year, the scheme cost the taxpayer £1.67 billion, or around £4.6 million per day.
According to estimates from The Telegraph, the money planned to be spent on migrant hotels could pay for the construction of 15 hospitals.
With hundreds more illegals being taken ashore at Dover during the Chancellor’s address to Parliament on Tuesday, the total number of illicit arrivals since January is expected to have surpassed 15,000, a record for this time of year.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said that the latest crossings demonstrated that there has been a “total collapse of border control,” noting that it has been the “worst year ever for small boat crossings so far”.
Aside from the soaring cost to the British taxpayer, the migrant hotel scheme has at times come with violent consequences. For example, a Sudanese asylum seeker went on a 2020 stabbing spree at his government-provided hotel accommodation in Glasgow, injuring six people, including a police officer. Migrants at the hotel had reportedly complained that the free meals he received were not “culturally appropriate” for them.
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