Taxpayers spend £3k EVERY DAY on new clothes for migrants - as 'leftie luvvies' told to foot bill
WATCH: Lee Anderson FURIOUS with net migration as he brands those in charge as 'LUNATICS'
GB NEWS
British taxpayers are forking out thousands of pounds every day to pay for illegal migrants' clothes and shoes, according to damning new data.
The predominantly-male arrivals from across the Channel are being handed free clothing, including warm coats, hats, gloves and flip-flops, at a cost of £3,000 every day - or £4million over the last three years.
The clothing is stockpiled in a nearby quayside store house, which one former official told The Telegraph was as large as a Matalan or M&S shop, which boasts a number of changing rooms to try the clothes on.
Inside, the Home Office stocks supplies of different sizes and shapes to replace all the migrants' clothing, which the department says is necessary for health and safety reasons, as they tend to be soaked through with seawater or splashed with fuel.
The predominantly-male arrivals from across the Channel are handed free clothes at a cost of £3,000 every day
PA
Some migrants are also offered free mobile phones to ensure they can keep up "ongoing contact" with immigration officials - but the Home Office said this was rare and it could not provide data on these costs.
In response to the data, asylum seekers have been urged to pay back taxpayers if granted refugee status in Britain - about two thirds of Channel migrants in the year ending September 2024 were given said status.
Tony Smith, a former director general of Border Force, said: "If they are allowed to stay, then they are going to be able to work and earn money.
"To me, that's a chargeable deduction on our investment in them like universities, where you have to borrow £30,000 to get your child in to study."
MORE ON THE MIGRANT CRISIS:
Asylum seekers have been urged to pay back taxpayers if granted refugee status in Britain
PA
'Illegal immigrants crossing the Channel are disrespecting our laws and should not be getting free clothes and accommodated in hotels,' Chris Philp said
GB NEWSIn total, clothes for migrants cost taxpayers £3,733,145 for 2022-23 and the first 10 months of 2024, worth £3,624 a day for the 105,853 migrants who crossed the Channel during that period, or £35.27 per migrant.
In 2022 - the record year for crossings, when 45,755 migrants reached Britain in small boats, the clothing cost the Home Office £2,047,756.77.
In 2023, when the number of migrants dropped to 29,437, the bill fell to £959,327.66 - and from January to October last year, it was £726,062.79.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "Illegal immigrants crossing the Channel are disrespecting our laws and should not be getting free clothes and accommodated in hotels - costing billions a year.
Both Chris Philp and Richard Tice have called for the spending to stop
PA
"These illegal immigrants do not need to cross the channel. France is safe and has a perfectly good asylum system."
While Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: "The taxpayer should not be footing any new clothing bill... If [refugee charity] Care for Calais and other leftie luvvies care so much, they can source clothing from their donations."
A Home Office spokesman said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
"Dismantling the people-smuggling gangs will not only save lives, but also continue to drive down costs such as these."
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