The Home Office has asked for an extra emergency £2.6 billion as they have spent more than expected on asylum accommodation.
The Home Secretary James Cleverly has requested a “contingencies fund advance” that will enable the Home Office “to deliver services with unpredictable final costs, such as the asylum system.”
In 2023 the Home Office spent a whopping £8 million every day for more than 50,000 asylum seekers to live in nice hotels.
In a written statement to Parliament, Cleverly said, “The Home Office net cash requirement for the year exceeds that provided by the Main Estimate 2023-24.
“Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £2,600,000,000 will be sought in a supplementary estimate for Home Office.
“Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £2,600,000,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.”
Labour said the Conservative Government has “completely bust the budget of the Home Office through staggering incompetence and chaos”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The taxpayer is paying the price.
“The overspend this year is significantly worse than last year despite all Rishi Sunak’s promises.
“Their failure to clear the asylum backlog, end the use of hotels for asylum seekers stuck in their broken asylum system or sort out proper contracts has left them with an eyewatering £2.6 billion blackhole that the British taxpayer will need to fill.
“Time and again they go for gimmicks rather than ever getting a grip.
“Labour set out a plan last year to clear the backlog, recruiting over 1,000 new case workers and ending the use of extortionate asylum hotels.
“That would save over £2 billion and sort out the Tory chaos.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Financial advances through contingencies funds are planned for each year to enable departments to deliver services with unpredictable final costs, such as the asylum system.
“This is a routine request and will enable the Home Office to continue to keep the public and the UK’s borders safe.”
