Populist approach to immigration has proven costly and ineffective
The populist approach to immigration has not only failed to curb the numbers coming over here but also cost the country financially.
In fact the Home Office has been accused of “woeful budgeting” by the fiscal watchdog the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The IFS says the department has frequently spent far more than it had budgeted for asylum, border, visa and passport operations – and that the budget for 2024/25 is repeating mistakes made under the previous government by submitting figures it “knows to be insufficient”.
Between 2021/22 and 2023/24, plans put before parliament by the Home Office at the start of each year budgeted an average of £110m for asylum operations, but it ended up spending much more – an average of £2.6bn per year. Billions are being wasted.
This is because the debate around immigration and the migrant crisis is too often overtaken by emotions and rhetoric.
The new Government must adopt a strong but sustainable approach to border security. Costly gimmicks and leaving asylum seekers in limbo is not providing the answers.
If anything, it is tugging at the strands that bind our social fabric, fomenting the sort of unrest that led to ugly scenes across the country this past month.
Plans for joint action to tackle the migrant crisis enveloping Europe unveiled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin are to be welcomed. Britain cannot shoulder the burden on its own when it comes to immigration.