The British government has been accused of wasting tax payer’s money by deporting Tamils to Sri Lanka on half-empty planes.
The Independent reported on Monday that the chartered flights, which cost around £250,000 each, had passengers removed due to last minute injunctions, preventing them from being deported due to fears they will be tortured.
Jan Jananayagam of Tamils Against Genocide told The Independent that the whole system is inefficient and wasteful.
“The entire asylum processing system is inefficient at multiple levels. It is not only the tax-payer funded half-empty flights to Colombo that are wasteful.
"So many of these cases are a waste of public money because many asylum cases are funded by charities, lawyers working pro-bono or at earlier stages via legal aid. And of course UK Border Agency is funded by the tax payer. So both sides of the argument are funded by the public.”
The Tax Payers’ Alliance, which campaigns for the interests of tax payers, also criticised the wasteful use of public money.
“The Home Office has a duty to remove individuals who aren't meant to be in the country, yet sending failed asylum seekers back on empty planes is a waste of money that makes no sense,” said Robert Oxley, a member of the alliance, which also campaigns for increased deportations of refugees.
“If so many deportations are being overturned at the last minute then ministers should look at strength of the deportation cases in the first place and whether the law is working as it should.”