The British taxpayer is footing the bill for a record number of out-of-work migrants, who are reportedly costing the government up to £8.5 billion per year.
A record 1,689,000 foreigners are currently unemployed or otherwise “economically inactive” in the UK, according to analysis of government figures by the Centre for Immigration Control. The think tank noted that the current level is the highest in British history, surpassing the previous high in 2012 of 1,628,000.
Centre for Migration Control researchers calculated that support for unemployed immigrants could cost the taxpayer as much as £8.5 million per year. However, this estimate did not include the costs of asylum seekers and foreign students to the state, meaning the total financial drain of mass migration policies is likely much higher.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Robert Bates, Centre for Migration Control research director, said: “For all the talk of a fiscal ‘black hole’, the Labour Government seem to be missing the glaringly obvious fact that mass migration is causing economic pandemonium.
“There is no reason for us to continue handing out so many long-term visas when we are currently having to bail out over a million migrants who are already in Britain but not working. This is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme, and we will only compound the problem if we do not change course soon.’
“Our elderly are facing a potentially deadly winter as Keir Starmer cancels the lifeline of the winter fuel allowance, but at the same time he is doing nothing to clamp down on workless migrants.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “The economic arguments for mass migration are over.”
Meanwhile, the Home Office, the branch of the British government responsible for immigration, has come under fire for repeatedly overspending on its budget for asylum seekers.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Home Office’s spending budget over the past three years to pay for asylum, border, and visa management was initially estimated to have been £320 million.
However, in actuality, the department spent £7.9 billion over the time frame, meaning that the Home Office underestimated its budget by a staggering £7.6 billion.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that this underestimation has continued into this year, accusing the Home Office of presenting a budget that it “knows to be insufficient” for 2024.
While the think tank acknowledged that costs have risen as a result of the tens of thousands of illegals crossing the English Channel from France and applying for asylum in Britain, the IFS said that the crisis has been happening for several years and therefore the increase in associated costs should have been “entirely foreseeable”.
IFS research economist Max Warner told the BBC: “When there is a one-off unexpected spike in costs or demand, spending more than was budgeted is entirely understandable. But when it is happening year after year, something is going wrong with the budgeting process.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We have been clear the prior approach was to fund the majority of asylum system costs through the Supplementary Estimate. As part of the ongoing Spending Review, in future, we are seeking to include these costs in the Main Estimate.”