Budget for Channel migrant enforcement cut by £40m

THE Home Office has cut its budget for illegal migrant enforcement by £40 million−just as the number of Channel crossings has risen to record levels.

Official figures show spending on immigration enforcement fell by 10 per cent from £462million to £420million between 2018-19 and 2020-21.

It meant the number of officers responsible for policing illegal migration decreased by 266, from 5,121 to 4,855, according to the Home Office figures unearthed by Migration Watch UK.

At the same time, the number of migrants reaching the UK in small boats across the Channel has risen from 299 in 2018 to 1,835 in 2019, 8,713 last year and a record 17,000 so far this year.

By contrast, spending on Border Force, which polices the Channel, rose by £140 million to £558 million, accounting for an extra 1,100 staff.

However, Migration Watch said that Border Force staff believed they were being misused as a “taxi service” by migrants in small boats. The think tanks said there were concerns that the Channel crisis had led to resources being diverted from vital enforcement tasks.

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “These figures help to underline how skewed the Government’s priorities have become on immigration matters. Even as illegal entries rose from year to year, there has been a drop in spending and staffing numbers for the very department tasked with enforcing the law. Especially in light of the worsening chaos in the Channel, there needs to be a huge boost in resources for this task.”

The Home Office said: “The Government is fully committed to tackling illegal immigration... Our enforcement officers continue to work day and night to remove those with no right to be here, including dangerous foreign criminals, despite significant challenges caused by the pandemic.”