Cost of housing migrants could skyrocket to £30m a day by 2026 – Government

Braverman says Labour has 'no plan' on small boats

Housing migrants and asylum seekers in temporary accommodation like hotels could cost up to £11billion a year it the new proposed small boats bill fails, according to the Government.

New figures suggest that the cost of housing migrants could become five times more expensive per day.

According to The Telegraph, analysis of Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s Illegal Migration Bill suggests that the cost of accommodating migrants could hit more than £30million a day – an increase from the current cost of £6m per day.

The Home Secretary looks set to use the figures as evidence that the legislation would save taxpayers money ahead of a showdown to push the bill through Parliament.

The new law would give ministers powers to detain almost every migrant who arrives in the UK illegally and deport them to their home nation or a safe third-party country.

But the Government’s plans to do so in Rwanda could yet be thwarted as ministers await a judgement on the scheme from the Court of Appeal.

According to The Telegraph, an official assessment of the new Illegal Migration bill states that a fall of 37 per cent per 1,000 migrants coming to the UK would result in net savings.

It is believed that the impact assessment states accommodation costs could reach more than £30million per day by the end of 2026 if the Government do not intervene.

A government source told The Telegraph: “The [Illegal Migration Bill] will absolutely save the taxpayer money if we can get it up and running and deter migrants from making the journey.

“It’s what the public wants and we have to deliver it, no ifs or buts.

“To do nothing leaves a ticking time bomb and could see costs more than tripling.

“It’s bad enough for the opposition parties to vote against the Bill, but will they say which taxes they are planning to increase on British people to pay the £30 million a day for asylum-seeker hotels if they succeed in blocking it?

“That’s the cost of voting against the Bill.”

Meanwhile, plans to house migrants and asylum seekers on a cruise ship in Scotland have been blocked.

However, the Government is also planning to house more than 3,000 migrants at RAF bases and 1,000 more migrants on ships in other places in the UK but as yet have not found a port to host them.

Separately, officials have brokered a deal to use a barge in Portland Harbour, in Dorset, as accommodation from the end of July. 

Earlier this month, Ms Braverman said: “I have been clear that the unacceptable number of people making frankly illegal and dangerous crossings must stop.

“That’s why we are taking immediate action to deliver alternative accommodation, bring down the asylum backlog and use new technology in Dover.

“We will continue to crack down on the abuse of our asylum system, ultimately saving the British taxpayer money.”

Last week, the Home Office said that more than 3,000 migrants crossed the Channel by small boat in June, a record month for the year so far and already ahead of last June’s total.

The surge cast doubt on the Prime Minister’s claim that government policies aimed at stopping the small boats have “started to work”.

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