The Home Office has asked for parliamentary approval for an emergency £2.6 billion in cash after spending more than expected on asylum accommodation.
James Cleverly made the request for a “contingencies fund advance” via a written statement, which the Home Office said will enable the department “to deliver services with unpredictable final costs, such as the asylum system”.
The Home Office spent around £8 million a day last year for migrants to be put up in hotels, with official figures last summer showing more than 50,000 were housed in hotel rooms.
The Home Secretary’s request for extra money comes as figures this week showed the number of migrants crossing the English Channel was up 13% compared with this time last year.
In his written statement to Parliament, Mr Cleverly said: “The Home Office net cash requirement for the year exceeds that provided by the Main Estimate 2023-24…
“Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £2,600,000,000 will be sought in a supplementary estimate for Home Office.
“Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £2,600,000,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Financial advances through contingencies funds are planned for each year to enable departments to deliver services with unpredictable final costs, such as the asylum system.
“This is a routine request and will enable the Home Office to continue to keep the public and the UK’s borders safe.”
Labour said the Conservative Government has “completely bust the budget of the Home Office through staggering incompetence and chaos”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The taxpayer is paying the price.
“The overspend this year is significantly worse than last year despite all Rishi Sunak’s promises.
“Their failure to clear the asylum backlog, end the use of hotels for asylum seekers stuck in their broken asylum system or sort out proper contracts has left them with an eyewatering £2.6 billion blackhole that the British taxpayer will need to fill.
“Time and again they go for gimmicks rather than ever getting a grip.
“Labour set out a plan last year to clear the backlog, recruiting over 1,000 new case workers and ending the use of extortionate asylum hotels.
“That would save over £2 billion and sort out the Tory chaos.”