Illegal immigrants cost UK £80 million in lawyers’ bills

Government spending on legal eagles who deal with illegal immigrants has soared.

The tab for Home Office lawyers has doubled since 2010/11, hitting a record £80 million last year.

The department is responsible for immigration, counter-terrorism and policing, but experts say much of the £40m hike will have been spent deporting illegal immigrants and foreign crooks seeking refuge in the UK.

Opposition politicians are outraged at the spiralling spend, saying it could have paid for 2,100 new police officers instead.

Human rights campaigners also claim the Home Office has wasted millions of pounds on failed immigration cases by hounding the wrong people.

Diana Johnson, the Shadow Crime and Security Minister, said Home Secretary Theresa May should be “getting a grip on costs within her department”.

She said: “While Theresa May has cut more than 8,000 police officers from the frontline, she’s allowed legal costs to double.”

Data from a parliamentary question revealed that, in 2010/11, the Home Office’s legal bill was £39,485,000 but by 2013/14 it had soared to £80,591,000 with a four-year total of £229,560,000.

Karen Bradley MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Office, said the Government is working to “remove the opportunities for abusive litigation in the immigration system”.

But Andy Silvester, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said the Government needs to come clean about why the bill is so high.

He said: “This is a staggering bill. Of course ensuring justice is served requires resources, but the huge hike in the total requires a more substantial answer than we’ve received so far.”

Sonel Mehta, founder of BritCits, which campaigns for the rights of UK residents with foreign family members, said: “I am not surprised by these figures.

“It is consistent with the Home Office culture with regards to immigration cases.

“Legitimate applications are being refused on random grounds. That then leads to more and more going to tribunals, which increases legal fees.”

The Immigration Act which came into force last year made a series of changes to the law, including preventing foreign criminals using the right to family life as a reason for escaping deportation, as well as limiting means of appealing.

A Home Office spokesman said the department had cut costs by £2 billion since 2010 and reduced non-EU immigration “close to levels not seen since the 1990s”.

She said: “Our reforms include removing the opportunities for abusive litigation in the immigration system. The new Immigration Act reduces the number of immigration decisions that can be appealed, sometimes spuriously, from 17 to four.”