UK spending on refugees is a classic false economy | Larry Elliott

The government is spending five times more on refugees in the UK than it allocates in aid to Africa

Donald Trump never did manage to build the wall on the US's southern border. Rishi Sunak may have no better luck stopping the small boats with his plan to put refugees on barges or send them to Rwanda.

But the extent to which governments will go to defend" their borders shows just how hot a political topic migration has become across developed western countries. Nor is it just the case in the US and UK. Sweden and Germany have seen the emergence of anti-immigration parties in recent years as the number of migrants has increased.