𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A major petition calling for the cessation of a government pilot scheme to give failed asylum seekers up to £40,000 to leave Britain is nearing a milestone. The online document on the UK Parliament website has garnered nearly 10,000 signatures – 9,528 at the time of writing. It closes on October 10 after being set up on April 10 by Alison Dean-Norman.

Parliament confirmed that if the petition gets 10,000 signatures, the government will respond to it. If it gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate by MPs. A petition against giving cash to people unsuccessful in applying for asylum was rejected by the government on April 10, as Ms Dean-Norman’s petition on the same issue was live.

It read: “I feel strongly against bribery of cash to illegal immigrants, illegally crossing over here jumping on dingys.

“Expecting to give alot of cash would just be a massive incentive for them all with the situation of free cash its just going to get made worse.”

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said in March that the government wanted to offer an “increased incentive payment”, representing a “significant saving to the taxpayer”, the BBC reported.

She added that ministers were consulting on how to remove families with children who refuse to leave voluntarily “in a way that is humane and effective”, arguing that not removing families meant there was “a perverse incentive” to cross the English Channel with children.

Ms Mahmood confirmed that the government would try to forcibly remove failed asylum seekers if they do not accept the “incentive payments” of up to £10,000 per person, a maximum of four per family, within seven days.