Migrants are being handed record levels of taxpayer-funded legal aid to fight their deportation, official figures have revealed.
The number of immigration cases sniffing out aid to appeal Home Office decisions has skyrocketed from 234 in 2013/14 to 2,200 in 2024/25 - an almost tenfold increase in a decade.
Migrants have been found to be invoking the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in a bid to get around rules against them accessing free legal aid in cases not deemed to be "exceptional".
Human rights laws allow for them to secure thousands of pounds in legal support to challenge Home Office bids to deport them or block them from bringing their relatives into the country.
The funding is provided to migrants through a programme called Exceptional Case Funding (ECF).
It was ushered in by the coalition Government in 2012 following the decision to block taxpayer-funded legal aid for the majority of immigration cases.
Ministers believed at the time it would provide a safety net to migrants with "exceptional" cases.
However, two subsequent rulings - in 2014 and 2016 - ruled that the body tasked with deciding which migrants could access the legal aid had applied the definition too narrowly and therefore breached their human rights.
Migrants are being handed record levels of taxpayer-funded legal aid to fight deportation
|GETTY
The revelation of the scale of taxpayer-funded support has reignited calls for Britain to leave the ECHR.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said: “Parliament passed laws to crack down on legal aid for immigration cases.
"But ECHR loopholes and rights-based claims have allowed claimants and open borders activists to undermine the will of Parliament.
“The evidence is clear. We must leave the ECHR. It is the only way we can scrap legal aid for immigration cases and stop these vexatious human rights claims for good."
MIGRANT CRISIS - READ THE LATEST:
Nick Timothy MP has pledged to scrap taxpayer-funded legal aid for immigration cases
| REUTERSMr Timothy pledged to axe the system under a Tory Government and replace it with "fast, final decisions made under the authority of ministers".
Meanwhile, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Nearly 15 years ago, immigration was taken out of scope of legal aid, but the courts have dismantled all control and now nearly nine in 10 immigration applications for emergency funding are being approved.
“As long as we remain in the ECHR, Article 8 claims [for a right to a family life] will keep the lawyers busy and the removal flights grounded.
“Conservatives will leave the ECHR and end the merry-go-round of appeals to restore control around immigration.”
More than 100,000 migrants have lodged appeals against their deportation from Britain
| GETTYIn order for migrants to be granted taxpayer-funded support from the ECF, they must show evidence they are unable to afford legal representation and that their case is more likely to succeed.
The laws introduced in 2012 block migrants appealing their deportation under Article 8 of the ECHR from accessing the scheme.
It comes as the number of migrants lodging appeals against their deportation from Britain has surged to record highs of over 100,000.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “We are taking action to put an end to spurious asylum appeals by reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system.
“These initiatives will save taxpayer money and reduce appeal times, enabling swifter movement out of asylum hotels and removal of those with no right to be in the UK.”
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