Sunak migration plan would cost £1bn a year and create ‘permanent limbo’, say campaigners

Refugee Council warns government bill will leave tens of thousands in indefinite detention

Thousands of people have been rescued from small boats in the Channel ((Gareth Fuller/PA))

Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop small boat crossings in the English Channel will cost almost £1bn a year, a leading refugee charity has warned.

The Refugee Council said more than 45,000 people who have crossed in small boats in the past year would have been detained indefinitely in “permanent limbo” under the plan.

Earlier this month Mr Sunak announced plans to ban those deemed to have entered the UK “illegally” from making an asylum claim and deporting them as quickly as possible.