Express report3d that Just when you think the government couldn’t do less to stop illegal migrants from coming into the country, something else happens that makes you even angrier.
This week, we learned that on top of spending £8 million a day on migrant hotels, providing free food, benefits, and healthcare (sometimes even before tax-paying Brits), we are also spending £3,000 a day to give them free clothes.
Yes, that’s right. Men, women, and children (but mostly young men) are given free clothes—puffer coats, woolly hats, gloves in winter, and flip-flops in summer. These clothes are stored in a large warehouse in Dover, where migrants can pick what they need after arriving illegally.
Many also receive free mobile phones, even though they destroy their own phones and documents to avoid identification. The government says the phones are to keep in touch with immigration officials. But if they can afford to pay smugglers to get here, surely they can buy their own phones? More likely, they are calling friends and family to say how great Britain is and to encourage them to come too.
Alp Mehmet from Migration Watch put it best: “There seems to be no end to this government’s generosity with taxpayers’ money. You arrive illegally, get dried off, given new clothes, and put up in a hotel while you wait for the inevitable approval to stay.”
Richard Tice from Reform UK also criticized the policy, saying, “Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for this. If charities care so much, they should provide the clothing themselves.”
And they are absolutely right.
This is not cheap. In 2022/23 and early 2024, taxpayers spent £3.7 million on clothing alone. Meanwhile, in 2023/24, the government spent £5.4 billion on asylum support—£3 billion of which went to housing migrants in hotels.
This is unfair to hardworking British people who see their taxes being spent on people who arrived illegally and have contributed nothing. Just imagine what £5.4 billion could do for struggling pensioners, homeless Brits, or those who can’t afford food. There’s no free hotel meals for them.
And speaking of homelessness, why isn’t there a free clothing warehouse for our own people? Why do struggling Brits have to rely on charity while illegal migrants get government-funded support?
Why is this government spending so much on people who broke the law to enter the country while ignoring its own citizens in need?
We are constantly told there is no money. Yet, the government finds billions to house and feed illegal migrants, many of whom lie about their circumstances to claim benefits.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Donald Trump is showing real leadership by deporting illegal migrants. This week, he sent 88 illegal Colombians back despite protests from their president, Gustavo Petro. Trump didn’t back down—he simply threatened trade tariffs until Colombia accepted them back.
Nobody wants to turn away people who are genuinely fleeing war. But most of those arriving are young men, aged 18–40, looking for a better life. They know Britain will provide it all for free. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that?
But this is the government’s fault, not theirs. Until we have a leader who puts British people first, this problem will continue.
And that leader is certainly not Keir Starmer.
