A petition calling for the government to scrap a pilot scheme that offers failed asylum seekers up to £40,000 to leave Britain is approaching a significant milestone. The online petition on the UK Parliament website has gathered nearly 10,000 signatures, with 9,528 recorded at the time of writing. It was launched on April 10 by Alison Dean-Norman and will close on October 10.
Petition Creator's Statement
Ms Dean-Norman wrote: "The UK government should stop its pilot scheme offering failed asylum seekers our hard earned money for them to leave the UK. We feel it is not fair to the UK people to provide our money to failed asylum seekers to get them to leave."
Parliament has confirmed that if the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the government will issue a formal response. Should it hit 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate among MPs.
Previous Petition Rejected
An earlier petition against giving cash to unsuccessful asylum applicants was rejected by the government on April 10, the same day Ms Dean-Norman's petition went live. That petition stated: "I feel strongly against bribery of cash to illegal immigrants, illegally crossing over here jumping on dingys. Expecting to give alot of cash would just be a massive incentive for them all with the situation of free cash its just going to get made worse."
Government Position
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood defended the pilot scheme in March, describing the payments as a "significant saving to the taxpayer." She said the government aims to offer an "increased incentive payment" to encourage voluntary departure. Ms Mahmood also confirmed plans to forcibly remove failed asylum seekers who do not accept the payments within seven days. The incentive offers up to £10,000 per person, with a maximum of four payments per family.
She argued that not removing families with children created a "perverse incentive" to cross the English Channel with children. The government is consulting on how to remove such families "in a way that is humane and effective."
