Sunak’s asylum hotels bill hits £1.54 billion, says Labour
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Some £1.54 billion has been shelled out on asylum seekers hotels
under Rishi Sunak’s watch – with £7 million spent every day. After
13 years of Tory government, the asylum system is broken. Despite
Sunak’s promise to “bust the asylum backlog” the number of people
waiting to be processed has skyrocketed to a record 172,000. When
Labour was last in office, that number was under
20,000. The Conservatives have lost any grip on the
asylum system. Just...Request free
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Some £1.54 billion has been shelled out on asylum seekers hotels under Rishi Sunak’s watch – with £7 million spent every day. After 13 years of Tory government, the asylum system is broken. Despite Sunak’s promise to “bust the asylum backlog” the number of people waiting to be processed has skyrocketed to a record 172,000. When Labour was last in office, that number was under 20,000. The Conservatives have lost any grip on the asylum system. Just 1 per cent of small boat arrivals over the last year have been processed, 129,000 people have been waiting for six months or more, the Home Office is still taking 30 per cent fewer decisions a year than in 2015 and the number of monthly decisions fell over the last few months despite the Prime Minister’s promises. Total asylum returns are down 70 per cent on 2010 levels, while enforced asylum returns are down 90 per cent. The government have no plan to fix the backlog which means huge sums of money will continue to be spent on asylum hotel bills. And the new legislation - the Bigger Backlog Bill - will make the costs worse. Larger backlogs mean taxpayers having to fork out on housing those seeking asylum in accommodation while the government get around to their case.
Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said: “These figures are utterly damning and an indictment of the scale of damage that 13 years of Tory government has done to the asylum system. “The Conservatives have broken the asylum system. But this shows how few ideas the Prime Minister has to fix the Tories’ chaos and the problems they have created in the asylum system. “Labour has a serious plan to fix the Tories’ small boats chaos, fast-tracking safe countries’ cases to clear the backlog and end hotel use, and setting up a cross-border police unit to stop people smuggler gangs.” Ends Notes:
Labour’s five-point plan to reform the asylum system:
A Labour Government would redirect spending from the unworkable Rwanda scheme, which the government has admitted is subject to a very high risk of fraud, to set up a new cross-border police unit to crack down on smuggling gangs. This would include millions of pounds of new investment in the NCA. Officers would be based in the UK and throughout Europe to tackle the gangs upstream. This would be supported with an urgent review to identify the gaps in enforcement against smuggling gangs, with the findings used to lay out an Action Plan to be delivered by the NCA and Border Force, in collaboration with international allies and Europol.
The Home Office is taking 9,000 fewer asylum decisions a year than they were in 2015, leaving people waiting in limbo for much longer and pushing up accommodation costs. Fast tracking cases for Albania and other safe countries, introducing triage and restoring proper casework standards and targets will mean quicker support for those who are refugees, much quicker returns for those who are not, and stopping costly hotel use.
Labour would redesign the existing resettlement schemes which are not currently working properly so that they include a clearer process for refugees with family connections in the UK to be considered for resettlement, preventing them being exploited by criminal gangs or making dangerous journeys.
Labour would negotiate a new agreement which includes safe returns and safe family reunions.
Labour would work in partnership internationally to address some of the humanitarian crises that are leading people to flee their homes including restoring the 0.7% aid commitment when the fiscal situation allows and strengthening support for the people of Afghanistan, currently the largest group trying to cross the Channel. |