UK will foot bill for every migrant on Cyprus base
BRITISH taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill for every immigrant who comes ashore at a UK military base in Cyprus whether they claim asylum there or not.
A Cypriot official revealed how Britain would pay as it emerged that only two of the 114 refugees who landed at RAF Akrotiri had claimed asylum.
It is believed that at least 88 of the migrants refused to do so because they wanted to continue their journey to mainland Europe.
The other 24 were still waiting to be processed as they all remained for the third night at RAF Akrotiri.
The official said the British would ‘compensate’ his government for every asylum seeker it accepts. Homer Mavrommatis, head of the Cyprus foreign ministry’s crisis management centre, said: ‘We are entitled to have the costs covered by the British if they stay with us. We have to provide the housing and education if they stay with us and the British must compensate us for this cost.’
Asked if the British will incur every cost for the rest of their lives, he replied: ‘Basically, yes, because they are considered Britain’s responsibility.’
Those that refuse to claim asylum in Cyprus could remain on British soil in Cyprus for months – if not years – at the cost of millions of pounds to the taxpayer.
They could be entitled to claims benefits of £50 a week each from the UK government, on top of free accommodation and medical care. Those who then have their asylum cases rejected would have to be dealt by the British too – and if they are from a war-torn country such as Syria they will not be allowed to be sent back to their country of origin, officials said. As the migrant crisis descended into further chaos, British officials were no closer to solving the situation. Last night MPs called for them to be ‘sent back home’ and warned that troops and ships should be sent to patrol the island to stop a mass influx of migrants looking for a back door to Britain. As a result, all those who arrived in two boats at the RAF base, which is on the coast, remained there for their third night. It is believed the two boats that arrived on Wednesday were carrying migrants from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine and that they came from Tripoli in Lebanon. Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulidis said there was a suspicion the traffickers deliberately sent the boats to the British base in the hope they could then be transferred to Britain.
In yesterday’s Mail, MPs warned that the Akrotiri base could be used as a ‘Trojan horse’ by migrants seeking a back door into Britain.
Defence sources stressed it was ‘a waiting game’ on the RAF base – where airmen are launching operations against Islamic State in Iraq – as diplomatic rows continued.
Twenty one refugees who landed on Cyprus 17 years ago and remain at another British military base on the island have been able to claim 70 euros a week each in benefits –
Fighting for resettlement
costing taxpayers around £1million. Six of the migrants – and their families who have since joined them – are being represented by law firm Leigh Day and are now fighting for resettlement in the UK with a High Court bid due to be heard in March.
There are fears that law firms could latch onto the latest influx and fight for a similar deal for hundreds – if not thousands more who follow them.
THIS is the dramatic scene confronting Channel Tunnel train drivers on an almost daily basis.
Standing or sitting on the tracks, migrants risk their lives to halt freight trains near Calais in the latest desperate tactic to reach the UK.
They force the drivers to slam on the brakes of the 2,000-ton cargo trains, allowing dozens of other migrants to smuggle themselves on board.
The trains then have to wait for security guards to remove the stowaways before they can continue. Some migrants will even sit on the tracks, which are also used by Le Shuttle passenger services between France and Britain.
Two people have already died after being hit by trains in recent weeks, with 16 killed in or near the Tunnel since the start of the migrant crisis in June. Britain has invested £7million in fencing at the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles to protect the platforms and the perimeter, but problems have persisted.
Train drivers have complained the situation is making their jobs difficult and some say they have also come under attack. Stones were thrown from bridges in one incident this month when 100 people stormed the site.
The terminal is about six miles from the ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, where 6,000 migrants are waiting to reach the UK. Up to 2,000 more are thought to be staying in two other camps near Dunkirk.
Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart has called for the French to send in the army to deal with the problem. An official report this week revealed how only 4 per cent of migrants refused asylum in France were deported last year.
Figures showed just 1,432 of 40,206 failed asylum seekers were removed. France’s national audit office said the country’s two-year process to assess asylum claims took longer than any other Euro-
‘Dozens of stowaways’
pean country. But French prime minister Manuel Valls said the 4 per cent figure did not include those who chose to leave voluntarily or who successfully appealed deportation decisions.
France argues the true figure for those who left was around 20 per cent. However, it is far lower than the 76 per cent who left Britain after being refused asylum. Yesterday it was revealed that only 86 people have so far been relocated from Greece and italy to other EU countries under a quota scheme to move 160,000 asylum seekers. Countries have found places for a further 854, but it is still far short of the target. Britain is not involved in the scheme. A European Commission spokesman yesterday said it was ‘an evolving situation’.
A passer- by chased and ‘arrested’ 13 illegal immigrants who jumped out of the back of a lorry yesterday.
Businessman Des Kefford, 31, collared the group of iraqis as the truck and trailer arrived at an industrial estate in ipswich, Suffolk. He said: ‘i told them there was no point running away and they might as well wait until police arrived.’