England is spending £2BILLION of taxpayer money a year on asylum seekers

Britain has now spent £2billion since the Rwanda deal was signed a year ago this week, with most of the money being spent on hotels to house migrants.

The scheme which removes asylum seekers who come to the UK illegally and transports them to the East African country has been delayed by legal challenges.

It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said tackling illegal Channel migrants was complicated and there was “no single, simple solution”.

Britain also made a £120million payment for five years’ work to ensure accommodation facilities were ready.

Since then hotel costs for asylum-seekers being housed in Britain are estimated to be £1.86billion.

Another £300,000 was also spent on official visits to the capital Kigali by Patel and her successor Suella Braverman.

And a Rwanda flight for seven migrants, which was halted last year after a legal challenge, is thought to have cost £500,000.

Official figures show that close to 45,000 migrants have crossed the border from France since the Rwanda deal.

According to the latest Home Office statistics, more than 1,100 migrants have crossed the Channel in the past week.

Between April 4 and April 10, 26 small boats made the journey from northern France to England.

Last Wednesday also saw the largest number of migrants travelling across in one day in 2023, with 492 refugees in 11 boats.