Nearly £4.5 million has been earmarked for the Net Zero gadgets to be installed at Home Office buildings to help staff go ‘green’.
But it sparked a furious backlash as critics said officials, who have struggled to get to grips with relentless Channel crossings, should focus all their resources on tackling the crisis.
It came as another 250 migrants on three boats arrived on Monday, taking the total since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister around a month ago to nearly 3,500.
In recent weeks a string of ‘mega-dinghies’ carrying more than 100 migrants at a time have also reached UK shores as smugglers shift their tactics.
One vessel arrived last week carrying a staggering 230 migrants, comfortably smashing the previous record of 165 aboard one vessel on July 23rd.
The spend came to light today in a written Parliamentary question, with Home Office minister Sarah Jones saying more than £500,000 was splurged on installing electric car chargers in 2024/25.
The department plans to ramp this up to £1 million this year and annually until 2029, bringing the total earmarked spend to £4.4 million. …
Mr Burnham has revealed little about what his strategy is for stopping the boats, choosing to leave the issue out of his maiden speech on the steps of Downing Street on July 20th.
But he has said ministers will look at “changing our tactics” to tackle the rise of mega-dinghies being used.
The average number of migrants crammed onto small boats has more than doubled over five years to a record high under Labour, from 28 per vessel in 2021 to nearly 70 so far this year....<<<Read More>>>..
