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Gavin Grey: Asylum seeker spending down, but not down enough · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And right now Gavin Gray in the UK for US Kevin,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: good morning, good evening to you. The government accused THEA
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of failing to keep its election promises. This is over
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  Speaker 1: the amount spent on the asylum seekers.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it's down, but it's down not very much. Ryan.
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  Speaker 2: So in total, the bill being spent on hotels to
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  Speaker 2: How's migrants last year was four point four billion New
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  Speaker 2: Zealand dollars, down from four point six billion the year before.
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  Speaker 2: It is said that there are thirty two thousand asylum
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  Speaker 2: seekers in hotels in the UK. The money is coming
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  Speaker 2: out of the overseas development budget, so money that should
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  Speaker 2: be going to help the poorest people around the world
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  Speaker 2: is instead being used to How's migrants who have come
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  Speaker 2: to the UK. It really is unsustainable. I think plenty
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  Speaker 2: of people are thinking. But here's the other thing. Because
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  Speaker 2: the country's not losing any money, people are also beginning
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  Speaker 2: to wonder if ministers are really serious about tackling this
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  Speaker 2: injustice in that this money would be saving lives elsewhere
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  Speaker 2: around the globe as a to comfort for those who
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: have come here illegally and are applying for sylum It's
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  Speaker 2: a very tricky issue. No government's got a grip on it,
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  Speaker 2: but this hotel bill seems to go on and on
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  Speaker 2: and on.
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  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, we've got arrests up for illegal migrants.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, this the government has improved on since they came
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  Speaker 2: into parent July of last year, in that they have
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  Speaker 2: toughened up quite considerably the fines and penalties to employers
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  Speaker 2: who do carry on employing migrants who are working here illegally. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the problem is for those who are in those hotels
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  Speaker 2: we just described Ryan and they are allowed to go
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  Speaker 2: out and about and do what they want. They're given
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  Speaker 2: a small amount of money each day, but they are
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  Speaker 2: not allowed to work. And plenty of people think, well,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: they should be allowed to work. And so we've heard
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  Speaker 2: there's a fifty one percent rise on the number of
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  Speaker 2: people arrested on suspicion of working illegally in the UK.
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  Speaker 2: That's a significant rise, and it is said that they
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  Speaker 2: have managed to thirty thousand people in total who have
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  Speaker 2: no right to be in the UK have now been
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  Speaker 2: returned to their home countries according to the Home Office.
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  Speaker 2: So this is a more positive story. But then you
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  Speaker 2: get down to the detail and footage showing on video
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  Speaker 2: shows the moment, thirty six people were arrested on one
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  Speaker 2: construction site. Nine others arrested illegally using delivery drivers. The
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  Speaker 2: list goes on and on, and the question is how
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  Speaker 2: can the government crack down further on that?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Kevin Gavin Gray are UK europe correspondent.
• 2:29
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• 2:32
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• 2:35
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