Paying failed asylum seekers to leave is value for money

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said she is willing to consider “a big increase” in payments to failed asylum seekers to persuade them to leave the UK voluntarily.

She told the BBC this was often “better value for money for the taxpayer” than the cost of people remaining in the country.

Mahmood also defended her plans to start deporting families who have been rejected for asylum, even where this includes children.

The proposals are part of a major overhaul of the UK’s asylum system, which was announced in Parliament this week and has attracted criticism from some Labour MPs and peers.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Mahmood was asked whether paying failed asylum…