The Conservative government has spent over £80 million fighting legal challenges against the Home Office on immigration, exceeding the total spent in 3 previous years combined, according to a report by Politics Home.

It was reported last year that the Conservative government spent £79,603,815 on legal challenges against the Home Office in 2023, surpassing the £77 million spent against the Home Office between 24 July 2019 and 21 September 2021.

The expenditure resulted from the government’s pledge at the time to ‘stop’ small boats from crossing the Channel.

Specific immigration-related policies, such as the implementation of the Nationality and Borders Act, the Illegal Migration Act, the Rwandan deportation scheme, and the use of airfields and barracks to accommodate asylum seekers, were key policy decisions that contributed to the increase in litigation against the Home Office.

Other litigation arose from ‘just generally bad practice in the Home Office, including the performative cruelty of a lot of its policies and conduct, and delays in decision making and poor administration’, according to Jo Wilding, an asylum barrister who lectures at the University of Sussex.

Home Office spokesperson Nick Beales stated that the costs were linked to decisions made by the previous administration.

A potential reason for the rise in litigation was the lack of communication between the Conservative government and professionals in the immigration and asylum sector. Concerns raised by the sector were reportedly ignored, with Beales noting that procedures and practices ‘would be far easier, cheaper, and more efficient’ with better cooperation.

However, he also suggested that the government prioritised appearing ‘tough on immigration’, regardless of the cost, explaining the increase in legal challenges and associated costs.