Fury as Labour accused of handing illegal migrants £40k ‘reward’ | Politics | News
Reform UK fears payments will provide additional incentive for Channel migrants (Image: Getty)
Shabana Mahmood is accused of offering £40,000 “rewards” to migrants to cross the English Channel in small boats. Unveiling radical reforms to the UK’s crumbling asylum system, the Home Secretary has offered 150 families living in hotels a “staggering” sum to leave the UK voluntarily.
And in an explosive speech, Ms Mahmood announced that the children would be deported if their families refused to take the money. But the massive “incentive” sparked outrage, with critics warning it could persuade more people to cross the Channel. Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, said: “They are not running away from conflict, they are coming from France.
Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood delivers a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), (Image: PA)
“They come because the Tory and now Labor governments have set up a food bank for the world at British taxpayers’ expense.
“Free housing, free food, free healthcare. The only way to stop this is to detain and deport them all.
“Amazingly, Labor is stepping up the incentive by offering illegals a staggering £40,000 package to get them to leave voluntarily.
“That’s more than the average salary in Britain. As a reward for illegal trespassing. It’s a disgrace.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is an insult to British taxpayers.
“Shabana Mahmood had to pay illegal immigrants to leave because she totally failed to remove them by force – only 6% of those arriving on small boats were removed under the Labor Government.
“Offering unsuccessful asylum seekers £40,000 to leave the country will only reward and encourage illegal immigration. If we leave the ECHR we can deport all illegal immigrants without needing to pay. But Shabana Mahmood is too weak to do this.”
Each person in 150 families will be offered £10,000 if they agree to leave within seven days; However, benefits will be limited to £40,000. They received the messages early Thursday morning.
As part of the plan, the Home Office is consulting experts on “how to physically handle children during removal where appropriate”.
A source said: “Each family costs the taxpayer £158,000 a year.
“They will have seven days to respond to this offer and then leave the country.
“Most importantly, if they do not accept this offer, we will try to remove them from the country by force. This includes children, but we will never separate parents from their children.
“This has been an incredibly successful model in Denmark for using incentives wisely to increase deportations of unsuccessful asylum seekers.
“We estimate that if the pilot is successful we will save taxpayers £20 million.”
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They added that migrants from Vietnam pay between £15,000 and £35,000 to reach the UK, while Syrians pay £10,000.
A source close to the Home Secretary suggested this showed migrants would not be able to make money from the scheme.
And speaking to the left-wing think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, Ms Mahmood said: “Families who failed to comply have known for a very long time that we do not enforce our rules, creating a perverse incentive to take small boat canal crossings with children.
“It is now up to the parents of the families to do the right thing so they can return safely to the homes they came from.
“By accepting the incentive payment rather than facing a forced return.”
Labor sources insisted Mr Youssef had also promised to pay migrants to leave the UK voluntarily.
The Home Secretary has confirmed plans to evict migrants from shelters and take their cash if they break the law.
From June, the aid will become “conditional” and will only be given to “law-abiding people who really need it.”
Those working in Britain’s black economy will also be kicked out of taxpayer-funded hotels, houses, flats and bedrooms, along with foreign criminals and those who refuse to leave the UK voluntarily.
Officials estimated that about 30,000 immigrants could lose support.
“When we establish that someone does not have the legal right to be in this country, it is very important that they leave,” he told IPPR.
“There’s nothing fair about not enforcing our rules.
“Especially as we know, many people are involved in illegal business and are getting in the way of legal employees.”
Under Labour’s plans, migrants’ permanent asylum rights would be revoked.
Instead, they will be offered temporary status, which will be reviewed every 30 months.
They will be sent back if their country is deemed safe enough to return. Only children arriving in the UK unaccompanied will be exempt.
Until now successful asylum seekers were granted refugee status for five years and allowed to bring their families to the UK. They then received free permanent settlement almost automatically, with continued access to benefits and housing.
Refugees will also be required to “earn” their settlement rights by working and contributing to society.
They will have to wait up to 20 years before they can apply to settle in the UK; If they arrived across the English Channel illegally in small boats or seeking asylum after overstaying their work, student or visitor visas, they will have to wait up to 30 years.
