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Home Office plans to clamp down on illegal migration risk creating a “perma-backlog” of asylum seekers that could end up costing the taxpayer over £6bn a year, a think tank has said.
Researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) argue that measures in the Illegal Migration Act – which aims to detain and remove people who arrive in the UK illegally – could see thousands of asylum seekers stuck in “limbo” and in need of accommodation.
A key plank of the Act is the Rwanda scheme, where those who arrive illegally will be deported to the east African nation in what the government hopes will act as a deterrent to those coming to the UK in small boats.
However, the policy is currently held up in the courts and no flight to Rwanda has yet taken off.
Now, the IPPR claims that – even if the Supreme Court deems the £120m deal lawful – deportations are likely to be on such a small scale that arrivals will still outpace the number of people who are removed.
With an inability to work or claim asylum legally, those left in limbo will be reliant on costly government support and housing, the think tank warned, while there is also the risk of an expanding undocumented population that is vulnerable to destitution.
It said that even if 500 people are removed per month, annual housing costs of those in limbo could exceed £5bn at current prices within five years.
If only 50 people are removed each month, then housing costs would increase to more than £6bn.
Marley Morris, IPPR’s associate director for migration, trade and communities, said: “There is only a very narrow window for government success…
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