Immigration is never off the news agenda these days, as Brits remain concerned about the influx of people to the country while the cost of living crisis and housing pressures only seem to worsen. Last week Sir Keir Starmer sealed a ‘one in, one out’ migrant returns deal with France’s President Emmanuel Macron which some number-crunching suggested is a little more akin to an, er, 17 in, one out set-up. The Labour lot have other borders-related problems on their plates too, however, as an independent watchdog has warned that the cost of supporting asylum seekers is set to absorb a whooping one-fifth of the gutted aid budget. Crikey!
The surging cost of asylum provision combined with Labour’s aid cuts will leave the lowest amount of cash available for overseas poverty reduction for 50 years.
After Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in last month’s spending review that the aid budget would be slashed – from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent by 2027 – the Independent Commission for Aid Impact has today raised concerns about ballooning refugee costs. Under international aid rules, a portion of the costs of an asylum seeker’s first year in the UK qualifies as official development assistance and therefore comes out of the aid budget. As such, the watchdog has also warned about soaring costs of housing asylum seekers in the UK – with the price tag rising from £628 million in 2020 to a staggering £4.3bn in 2023. The surging cost of asylum provision leaves a fraction (0.24 per cent) gross national income for overseas development, the lowest amount of cash available for poverty reduction and humanitarian assistance for 50 years. Another Live Aid, anyone..?
By the watchdog’s figures, the UK spent three times as much aid per refugee compared to other major European countries in 2023. Perhaps, the report suggests, it’s got something to do with 32,000 asylum seekers living in expensive, taxpayer-funded hotels. Well, Reeves has more on this, too. In her spending review, the Chancellor promised to stop using hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029 – claiming the move would save £1bn. The Home Office will instead look to increase the capacity of sites like the Wethersfield RAF base in Essex.
Problem solved? Mr S isn’t so sure. Quizzed by a House of Lords Committee last month whether he believed the government would succeed in their intention to stop using hotels, independent chief inspector of borders and immigration David Bolt replied:
Frankly, I do not think that it will be achieved… There is simply not sufficient housing stock to be able to deal with the sorts of numbers that are in the system… It is really challenging.
Oh dear. It would be putting it mildly to say that the slashing of the UK’s aid budget has not gone smoothly. Reeves’s announcement prompted the immediate resignation of Anneliese Dodds, the minister who was actually responsible for international aid – and former PM Gordon Brown unleashed a scathing tirade about the move during a recent speech in London. Will this latest watchdog warning persuade the government to better tackle the holes in the asylum system? Watch this space…
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