‘Draconian’ migration bill could leave tens of thousands destitute or locked up

Refugee Council figures reveal potential human and economic cost of government's illegal migration bill

Nearly 200,000 people, including more than 40,000 children, could be locked up or forced into destitution if the government's controversial illegal migration bill becomes law, according to new analysis by the Refugee Council.

The charity has used government data and the numbers of asylum seekers the Home Office said it hopes to deport from the UK, to project how many people are likely to either be forcibly removed or left in limbo in the first three years of the new legislation if it becomes law, at a cost to the taxpayer of around 9bn. Home Office officials say they do not recognise these figures.