A deportation flight carrying migrants and criminals to Albania had just 47 aboard at a cost to the taxpayer of £1million, it was claimed today.
The Home Office yesterday released images of people being booted out of Britain as they sought to harden the UK’s approach to immigration.
Officials said they had carried out 5,074 enforced returns between July 5, 2024 and January 31, 2025 – an increase of nearly a quarter on the previous year. They said a total of 2,925 foreign national offenders have been removed.
The Home Office said this was the first time it had published images of its deportation flights.
But the Telegraph today said that the privately hired Airbus A321, which can carry 220 people, was carrying just 47 Albanians, plus as many as 150 security guards and crew.
Based on a 2023 Home Office estimate of costs being £22,000 per person being deported, it means that the flight cost just over £1million.
Private charter flights have to be used because scheduled carriers will not take part in the flights.
It came after ministers defended their decision to release footage of illegal migrants being arrested in dawn raids as ‘compassionate’ following criticism from left wingers.
The new administration of President Trump has regularly published photographs of migrants being deported in handcuffs.
There have been 39 charter flights in total leaving for countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.
Most returns are voluntary, with people who do not have permission to stay in Britain able to receive payments of up to £3,000 to help resettle abroad.
Officials said a total of 18,987 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and illegal migrants have been returned back to their home countries in total since the general election.
They said this represents the highest rate of returns seen in the UK since 2018 and include the four biggest returns charter flights in the UK’s history – carrying more than 850 people overall.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘To rebuild public confidence in the immigration system, we need to show the rules are respected and enforced.
‘That’s why, as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we have put significant additional resource into immigration enforcement and returns, so those who have no right to be here, particularly those who have committed crimes in our country, are removed as swiftly as possible.
‘I want to pay tribute to all the Immigration Enforcement staff and other officials in the Home Office who strive tirelessly every day to make our returns system work firmly, fairly and swiftly.’
The Home Office also boasted of a rise in the number of illegal migrants being arrested.
Some 3,930 arrests have been made across 5,424 visits by immigration enforcement officers since July 5 when Labour took power to January 31, in what is understood to be a 38 per cent increase compared to the previous 12-month period.
Home Office officials said 609 arrests of illegal workers were made last month, the highest since figures began being collected in 2019.
There were also 828 raids on workplaces suspected of illegally employing foreign staff in January, up from 556 in the same month last year and from 171 in January 2019.
The Government has begun releasing details of the raids in the wake of polls showing Labour would lose more seats to the Reform party than the Conservatives would.
The Red Wall group of around 40 Labour MPs has called on its ministers to send a stronger message on immigration to head off the electoral threat.
Officers from the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement agency have uncovered migrants who arrived illegally across the Channel also working illegally, it was revealed.
Illegal workers can end up living in ‘squalid’ conditions and working ‘inhumane hours’ for ‘little or no pay’, Home Office sources said.
Gangs involved in people trafficking have been driving illegal migration by giving migrants ‘false promises’ about their ability to work here, they added.
Illegal workers can end up living in ‘squalid’ conditions and working ‘inhumane hours’ for ‘little or no pay’, Home Office sources said. Gangs involved in people trafficking have been driving illegal migration by giving migrants ‘false promises’ about their ability to work here, they added.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘The immigration rules must be respected and enforced.
‘For far too long, employers have been able to take on and exploit illegal migrants and too many people have been able to arrive and work illegally with no enforcement action ever taken.
‘Not only does this create a dangerous draw for people to risk their lives by crossing the Channel in a small boat, but it results in the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy.
‘That’s why, as part of our Plan for Change, we are boosting enforcement to record levels alongside tough new legislation to smash the criminal gangs.’