TAXPAYERS are footing the bill for 5,000 empty hotel beds for migrants every night, officials have revealed.
The bill for rooms that are not used runs to about £500,000 every day.
Another 1,300 small boat migrants headed to Britain last weekend
They are booked as a buffer in case of an explosion of crossings to avoid overcrowding at Manston and other sites, MPs on the Home Affairs Committee were told.
The total hotels bill is more than the levelling up fund and three times the homelessness budget.
In all, asylum costs £3.5billion a year.
The revelation came as another 1,300 small boat migrants headed to Britain last weekend — while ministers prepare to climb down on their new migration law.
Yesterday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman thrashed out compromises that will limit the detention of children to eight days and pregnant women to 72 hours.
The new rules will only apply when it is passed into law, rather than from March 7 as it was intended.
It means thousands may not face the same strict detention and deportation rules.
Another 15 amendments from the Lords are likely to be thrown out by MPs.
But former Home Secretary Lord Ken Clarke yesterday said MPs and peers must “give the Rwanda scheme a chance to work”.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman thrashed out compromises that will limit the detention of children to eight days and pregnant women to 72 hours
