The ongoing migrant crisis costs every British household a staggering £220 on asylum seeker support schemes that provide services such as tennis lessons and zoo visits.
An investigation by the Sunday Express revealed that the programmes also included visits to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, friendship services and sandwich deliveries.
Critics have branded these expenditures as “bonkers”, arguing the money should have gone to improving public services and communities instead.
However, the Refugee Council claimed that cutting these schemes would isolate refugees and leave taxpayers poorer.
The programmes also included visits to Arsenal football stadium, friendship services and sandwich deliveries
GETTY
One contract seen by the Express provided over £20,000 on sports coaches and equipment.
At the same time, “befriending schemes” saw hundreds of thousands of pounds go to allocating “mentors” for refugees.
In Bristol, Hull and the London borough of Newham, a befriender is provided to each adult to supposedly promote confidence building.
A staggering £50,000 was also spent on a sandwich delivery service, with the value of each lunch coming to £4.45 – which is more than most supermarket meal deals.
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These were supplied weekly to refugees in Croydon and Kent. In addition, a shocking £1.1million was spent on SIM cards for mobile phones, which each one required to have “at least 60GB data”.
Half a million pounds reportedly went to bus passes in Bristol, but the largest cost to taxpayers was for accommodation, amounting to billions of pounds, with the furnishing of the residences coming to £2,388,000.
Support services and assessment for unaccompanied migrant children also came to a high number.
Speaking to the Express, suspended Reform MP Rupert Lowe claimed local communities were being “destroyed”.
He said: “If someone landed from out of space, they’d say we’ve gone bonkers.”
“We’ve got these ridiculous contracts where we’re handing out money to groups who have never contributed to our society… Is that logic? I think it’s lunacy.”
He added: “It’s causing all sorts of fractions in what were very stable local communities.”
Lowe has backed US President Donald Trump’s method of “detain and deport”, claiming those who arrive illegally in Britain should be “processed offshore” on “some obscure island”.
The chief executive of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, claimed cutting the programmes would be a “false economy”
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Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, claimed cutting the programmes would be a “false economy”, and would have negative effects on the UK.
He said: “I know refugees from all over the world who make amazing contributions to their communities and to our country. Many are success stories. Working in the NHS, running businesses that create jobs or working on our high streets.”
“But when they arrived here, they needed help to unlock their skills and potential. Help to speak English, make friends or, when they received permission, to find a job and somewhere to rent. We all need a bit of help sometimes.”
Recent figures showed that 108,138 people applied for asylum in the UK last year – the highest number since 2001.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The government is required by law to provide support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, but we are determined to ensure value for money in all future contracts, and have introduced new controls to minimise non-essential spending which were not in place when the majority of these contracts were signed under the previous government.”
“Overall, we are determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly, and it remains our commitment to cut the costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of hotels over time.”