‘Bribed’ to go home with free flights and UK taxpayers’ cash

THOUSANDS of illegal immigrants are being offered bribes to leave Britain with ‘tailored packages’ that include free flights, money to start up businesses and help with finding schools for their children.

The Home Office is also offering failed asylum seekers and those who overstay their visa an amnesty from arrest if they attend meetings to discuss their return.

It is promising that anyone who leaves voluntarily could be allowed back into the UK in as little as two years, whereas those forcibly deported are banned from returning for a decade.

In an astonishing example of the official drive to effectively ‘pay’ illegal immigrants to leave, a senior immigration official has even appeared on a spiritual guru’s TV show to promote the new measures. Richard Lederle told Shri RajRajeshwar Guruji: ‘If you’re returned through the enforced route, you face almost inevitably a ten-year return ban. The benefits could be a reduction to as little as two years.’ But critics say the generous terms of the Voluntary Returns Scheme suggest it is acceptable to be in the UK without complying with requirements. Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen said: ‘This looks like a bribe for people who have already committed a criminal act by being here illegally. And it could act as an incentive for more people to come illegally.’