Rishi Sunak's pledge to 'stop the boats' will cost the UK £169,000 per immigrant

A new analysis carried out by the Home Office has revealed that it will cost the government an estimated £169,000 to send illegal migrants to countries such as Rwanda.

The revelation is part of an Impact Assessment of the government's new Illegal Migration Bill, which was first introduced to Parliament in March.

The proposed legislation aims to "prevent and deter unlawful migration, and in particular migration by unsafe and illegal routes, by requiring the removal of certain persons who enter or arrive in the United Kingdom in breach of immigration control".

It follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to "stop the boats" – one of his five key priorities announced in January 2023.

However, the Bill has faced scrutiny over possible breaches of the Human Rights Act.

Rubin Italia, a solicitor who specialises in criminal law and immigration, says the legislation is an illegal attempt from the government to stop asylum seekers from seeking refuge.

Rights groups and the United Nations also said the legislation would make Britain itself an international outlaw under European and UN conventions on asylum.

While The High Court ruled in December 2022 that the scheme is legal, that decision is facing a further challenge in the courts, with a judgment due on Thursday.

Despite this, the Bill has now entered the Report Stage in the House of Commons, with the government announcing yesterday that it has launched a consultation in relation to legal aid fees in the Illegal Migration Bill.

The latest analysis by the Home Office will come as a further blow to Rishi Sunak, casting doubt on the economic viability of the plan.

A breakdown of the costs said that a third country like Rwanda would get £105,000, the Home Office £18,000, costs for flying and escorting would be £22,000, costs for detention would be £7,000 and costs to the Ministry of Justice would be £1,000.

An extra 9 per cent was added to account for estimates being optimistic, bringing the figure to £169,000.

But Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the assessment proves that "doing nothing is not an option".

Braverman said: "We cannot allow a system to continue that incentivises people to risk their lives and pay people smugglers to come to this country illegally while placing an unacceptable strain on the UK taxpayer.

"I urge MPs and peers to back the bill to stop the boats, so we can crack down on people-smuggling gangs while bringing our asylum system back into balance."

The Illegal Migration Bill still needs to be approved by the House of Lords, where it has faced significant opposition and could face further legal challenges if it becomes law.

The assessment by the Home Office concludes that in order for the Bill to come at no cost to the taxpayer, it would need to deter 37 per cent of people from entering the UK illegally.

Currently, the number of asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their arrival is at an all-time high.

An analysis last month, also carried out by the Home Office, found that asylum decisions have fallen by 18 per cent since December.

The latest figures show the backlog had risen to 172,758 at the end of March, and the number of asylum seekers waiting longer than six months for a decision now stands at 128,812.

This meant that the net migration total rose dramatically last year – the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that net migration rose to a new record calendar year figure of 606,000 in the 12 months to December 2022. And according to the opposition Labour Party, the government's new Migration Bill is not the solution.

They described the impact assessment as "a complete joke" and claimed it demonstrates that the government is "totally clueless" about how much the bill would cost.

"The few figures the Home Office has produced show how chaotic and unworkable their plans are," shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said. "The true cost" may be higher as the government had not costed the possibility of people being held in "indefinite detention", she added.

On Tuesday, the Women and Equalities Committee published a report calling for children to be exempted from detention or deportation to Rwanda, under the government immigration plans.

The committee's chair, Tory MP Caroline Nokes, a former immigration minister, said: "The risk of harm to children outweighs any perceived damage to the effectiveness of the government's policy agenda."

However, the Home Office's analysis warns that as unaccompanied children are excluded from being deported, more young people – or those claiming to be so – could arrive under the scheme proposed by the Government.