THE Home Office’s “cold-hearted” asylum reforms could cost the taxpayer billions of pounds a year, according to a new report. 

While ministers have claimed that measures in the new Nationality and Borders Bill are aimed at cutting costs, calculations by a coalition of campaign groups suggest the taxpayer could be hit with “eyewatering” outgoings. 

According to estimates calculated by the Together with Refugees coalition, five key policies in the Bill could cost £2.7 billion a year. 

Plans to set up large detention facilities to house up to 8,000 people seeking asylum, rather than accommodate them in communities, is estimated to cost £717.6 million a year. 

The most expensive policy, estimated to cost £1.4bn a year, is the provision to set up offshore processing centres for refugees while their claims are processed. 

A provision in the Bill that would see asylum-seekers criminalised for entering Britain via irregular routes could cost £432m in prison fees, while costs of plans for the mass deportation of asylum-seekers under the Bill could cost £117.4m. 

The coalition said its calculations are based on real-world costs of implementing similar policies, including Australia’s offshore model. 

With the government yet to release the long-awaited impact assessment for the Borders Bill, the coalition said it decided to do the calculations itself ahead of the first vote in the Lord's next month that could see the legislation defeated.

Together for Refugees spokesman Sabir Zazai, who is also a refugee from Afghanistan, said: “This is an astonishing amount of additional public money for the unworkable and cruel proposals in the Bill – enough to pay for more than 80,000 NHS nurses a year. 

“Having fled their homes in fear and struggled to find safety, these measures would leave women, children and men facing further hardship in prison, isolated in another country indefinitely, separated from family and facing insecurity and indecision.”

Freedom from Torture director of policy Steve Crawshaw said: “While the costs of this anti-refugee bill are eyewatering, we know from our work with torture survivors that the human suffering it will cause is incalculable. 

“These cruel proposals will deny protection to those in dire need and endanger the most vulnerable women, children and men seeking safety in our communities.”

The Home Office said the figures were “pure speculation.” 

A spokesperson said: “Our broken asylum system is costing the taxpayer an unacceptable £4.7m a day on hotels, which is why urgent reform is needed. 
 
“Our New Plan for Immigration will fix the broken asylum system so that we spend less time and money on those abusing the system, enabling us to focus on helping those in genuine need.”