Migrants could be forced to repay 'whole cost' of hefty asylum and hotel fees

Britain currently spends £5billion annually on the asylum system, £2.1billion of which goes towards housing and supporting more than 32,000 migrants in about 200 hotels.

As well as funding housing, a weekly allowance of £49.18 is provided.

This financial settlement is set according to international refugee law and human rights conventions that require any country to support asylum seekers who present themselves as destitute.

Leading the MPs from Labour’s traditional northern English heartland, Ms White challenged to Chancellor to recoup some of these funds.

“I would like Rachel Reeves to announce in the Budget that asylum claimants, once their claims have been processed, should be responsible for the costs of their claim,” she said.

“They should be expected to work and, a bit like a student loan, they should pay back over time the whole cost of their claim.

“That may also act as a deterrent,” Ms White added.

The MP's proposal had previously been floated by the former director general of the Border Force, Tony Smith.

He estimated that up to half the £5.4billion a year spent on processing, accommodating and supporting asylum seekers could be repaid to the treasury.

“If they got the message that it’s not a free ride and any money that they cost the state would have to be repaid, it would act as a deterrent,” he said.

“We could also serve them notice on arrival of the costs they would incur if placed in hotels and asylum accommodation and give them the option to stay with friends or relatives as well,” the former border chief added.

Last month, a damning report from MPs found that billions of pounds of taxpayer money were being "wasted" on the asylum hotel system.

The lawmakers strongly criticised the Home Office for its "incompetence" when dealing with the "failed, chaotic and expensive" system.

To that end, Ms White has also called for asylum accommodation to be managed by councils rather than private contractors.

The cost of the 10-year contracts to provide housing has increased threefold, rising from £4.5billion to £15.3billion.

Ms White also advocated for migrants to be processed in the first safe country, citing the city of Erbil in Iraq as a potential site.

That way, the Government could ban asylum claims from anyone attempting to enter the UK illegally over the English Channel.

“If you have points of safety where claims can be processed, then we can make crossing the Channel on small boats illegal because there are alternative ways of people making claims,” the red wall leader said.

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