This government have few solutions other than to throw money at a problem

An average of 1,400 people a day have been migrating to the UK since Labour came to power in 1997, so what is the Government's solution (apart from trying to shut the stable door...)? It appears that it is to offer up to £4,000 to immigrants to return home. Do read the whole article but here is a flavour of what our pathetic government is willing to spend our money on...

"Posing as a migrant eager to return to India, Vivek Chaudhary finds a government body eager to help him on his way with £4,000 in cash and allowances and no questions asked...

I’VE often been told to go back where I came from – but never quite as pleasantly as now. Here, in a modest office in the heart of Westminster, I am being asked by a polite young man to name my price for quitting Britain.

The advert I ripped out of Mann Jitt, a Punjabi newspaper in London, was to the point – and generous. “Thinking about returning to your home country? If you are an asylum seeker, call IOM free for an individual or a family return plan.”

It spelt out the sweeteners available courtesy of the British taxpayer. “Small business start-up. Travel arrangements. Flight ticket. Relocation grant. Baggage allowance. Short-term accommodation. Job training. Work placements. Education.”

Not bad – but here, in the offices of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), I thought I’d ask for more...

He assures me that if I agree to “go home” I will receive £500 in cash at the airport before boarding my free flight back to India. I will also be given an excess luggage waiver...

guess what I want to do. “To open a travel agency. Like I came here [illegally], lots of our people want to come here,” I explain, trying hard not to burst out laughing.

“Okay,” says Akhtar, raising his eyebrows.

“What do you think?” I ask him.

“It’s good,” he replies, somewhat half-heartedly. “Where do you want to open it?”...

Even though I have told him I am a failed asylum seeker and drug seller who plans to use public money to set up a business sending people back to Britain, he assures me the IOM will not object. “What things do you think you will need?” he asks.

I reply: “Computer, printing press, printer. You never know when you have to make documents. Car, put that down as well.”

I am told that once my business is launched I will receive an additional £500 in cash in India, on top of £500 before my departure. To get my office equipment and car I have to contact the IOM office in Hyderabad, south India.

“You just have to tell them what you need,” I am told.

“Will they buy it all for me?” I ask.

“Yes,” says Akhtar...

At this point I need to reconfirm that there are no problems with my plan to promote my service for sending people to Britain through an advert in the IOM office in India.

“They won’t mind, will they?” I ask, referring to the IOM.

“Why should they mind?” replies Akhtar.

“They might think I’m doing something illegal.”

“No,” Akhtar insists. “It’s their job to help you. That’s what they are getting paid for. I am getting paid to help you.”...

I need some free accommodation. “Any chance?” I ask.

“Okay. How long will you need it for?” Akhtar asks.

“Two months,” I reply. Agreed. In a subsequent phone call I inform Akhtar that I fancy setting up my business in Goa.

“The weather’s nice, there’s lots of tourists there and it would be good for the business . . . I’ve never been there before. Can I set it up in Goa?

“You can do it wherever you want and go wherever you want,” I am told.

Two months in Goa courtesy of the IOM and the British taxpayer. Now that can’t be bad...

Akhtar informs me that the IOM would be willing to pay the salary of two staff members for three months in advance. I explain that I wish to employ two friends who, like me, are failed asylum seekers.

“There’s a limit, but we will be able to pay 15,000 rupees (£190) per month,” Akhtar says...

In all, I was promised a package worth approximately £4,000 in cash and allowances, including an airline ticket, the £1,000 to set up a business, three months’ salary for two staff, accommodation, a car and office equipment...

The IOM is currently advertising its repatriation programme in the ethnic-minority media in Britain, and financial incentives have been increased. According to the Home Office, 3,290 people have left under the scheme in the first nine months of this year. "

At £4,000 a head that is £13 million.

"The Sunday Times investigated after it was alerted that failed asylum seekers were playing the system. I met several asylum seekers who had applied for the IOM’s financial assistance programme and were already planning their return to Britain once they got their business established in their country of origin.

I met another man who left for his wedding in India much wealthier thanks to the IOM. He intends to return to Britain within the next year.

“If I go to India and don’t like it there, can I come back?” I asked an IOM official when I rang up to arrange my visit. “I’ve been here for 11 years and am not used to the heat and dust of India.”

“If somebody leaves and then wants to come back to Britain there’s nothing that we can do about it,” the official replied."


Do you trust this government to get anything right?