Labour's one-in-one-out migrant deal with France has cost around £80 million so far, and that figure is expected to climb into the billions, according to political commentator Jonathan Saxty.
The news comes as residents of the Oxfordshire village of Piddington voted by a margin of 91% to become independent from the UK. The symbolic referendum was held in protest at plans to house over 1,000 migrants nearby. Women in the village said "life as we know it will be destroyed" if the plans went ahead.
More than 130 female residents wrote to every female MP to share their concerns: "As fellow women, you will understand the serious risks this will expose us to. We will not feel safe walking our streets."
Deal costs £56,000 per illegal immigrant
The deal with France, which French authorities want to ditch after less than a year in favour of an EU-wide scheme, works out at £56,000 per illegal immigrant. If it eventually involved all 28,000 illegal immigrants who entered from France since the scheme began, the total cost could be at least £1.5 billion.
Costs include detention, security and legal costs, as well as the bill for flying immigrants that France wants to send to the UK. Saxty questions whether it would be cheaper to give them money to leave, noting the Labour government wants to convince the public that paying people to leave is cheaper than accommodating them in the UK.
Border force and statistics questioned
The commentator suggests it would be easier to fund a proper border force to begin with. He also notes the Labour government wants the public to believe illegal crossings are down 40%, but questions the figures, citing Home Office whistleblowers who claim only 1% of asylum claims are legitimate.
Saxty dismisses Conservative criticism, saying they had 14 years to fix the border but instead delivered the 'Boriswave' and the start of the small boats crisis. He rejects claims that Brexit caused the failure to fix things, pointing out that landlocked Hungary and Poland are in the EU and do not have open borders, while Japan, Singapore and Taiwan are islands like the UK with no illegal immigrants.
Costs could fund military, NHS or police
The article claims Reform councils are compelled to pay for private security in Essex towns while the Labour-Tory cartel conspires to flood Britain with illegal immigrants and house them at public expense. The £80 million and counting could be spent on the military, NHS or police, Saxty argues, but instead is being spent on illegal immigrants.
Piddington, he concludes, speaks for Britain when it says enough is enough.
