Tory ministers have been condemned for spending billions of pounds more than planned on the UK’s asylum system.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank accused the Home Office of “woeful” budgeting in the years leading up to the general election.
Labour said the findings, in a damning report published on Thursday, vindicated their claims that the last government left a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
According to the IFS, the Home Office spent £7.6bn more than initially planned on asylum, border, visa and passport operations over the last three years.
The department was forced to raid the Treasury’s reserve fund to make up the shortfall.
“Between 2021–22 and 2023–24, plans put before parliament by the Home Office at the start of each year budgeted an average of £110 million for these operations,” the IFS said.
“But it ended up spending much more – an average of £2.6 billion per year.
“It has submitted plans for 2024–25 which already include a £1.5 billion top-up from the Treasury, but which are nonetheless judged ‘not sufficient to support those currently in the asylum system’.
“Even with the £800 million of expected savings from ending the Rwanda scheme, another top-up in the region of £4 billion appears all but inevitable.”
IFS research economist Max Warner, who wrote the report, said: “The way in which the Home Office and Treasury have budgeted for asylum costs leaves a lot to be desired.
“The fact that the Home Office has spent £7.6 billion more than initially budgeted on asylum, border, visa and passport operations over the past three years is testament to that.
“When there is a one-off unexpected spike in costs or demand, spending more than was budgeted is entirely understandable. But when it is happening year after year, something is going wrong with the budgeting process.
“It would be far more sensible to recognise the likely amount of asylum spending up front. That would also leave the Treasury’s contingency reserve for genuine emergencies, rather than for spending that the government knows will occur but does not want to budget for.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “Instead of reflecting the real costs of the asylum system in Home Office budgets, the previous Conservative government covered up the true extent of the crisis and its spending implications, leaving behind an unforgivable inheritance with nothing to show for it except record high small boat crossings in the first half of the year.
“Every time the Conservatives faced a difficult problem, they failed to be honest. They knowingly overspent on departmental budgets, covered it up, called an election and ran away from the problem, leaving a £22bn black hole in the country’s finances for Labour to clean up.”
But former Tory home secretary James Cleverly said: “Border control has never been free. By scrapping our deterrent on day one of a Labour government, the asylum bill will soar for taxpayers under Keir Starmer’s government.
“The government must urgently come forward with a plan to stop illegal boat crossings and end the use of expensive hotels to manage down costs within the asylum system.”