Nigel Farage lambasted plans to pay failed asylum seekers thousands of pounds to move to Rwanda under a new voluntary scheme.
The former Ukip leader said “you couldn’t make this up” and that the idea it could bring down small boat crossings is “for the birds”.
Speaking on his GB News show last night, Mr Farage said: “Another genius idea has come from our Government.
“Oh, yes. If you come to this country illegally and you fail your asylum claim, you are given the opportunity to voluntarily go back to your country and we help you do it.
“But in some cases, let’s say you’ve come from Syria, we’re not going to return you there because we don’t think that’s safe.
“So the new master plan is, rather than forcibly removing you to Rwanda, we’re going to pay you to go to Rwanda.
“We’re going to give you £3,000 spending money to go to Rwanda, you’re going to get five years free accommodation. I mean, you couldn’t make this up, could you.
“And the total cost estimated now from the Office of National Statistics is that for every single person that goes to Rwanda, if any do, the costs will be an estimated £171,000 per person that goes.
“But the idea that £3,000, a little bit of pocket money and five years free accommodation and the chance to work; the idea that that, somehow, will reduce the numbers coming across the English Channel is for the birds.
“After all, you could buy a very, very cheap little kayak or kiddie dinghy in one of the main supermarkets around Calais or Boulogne and on a nice day in June or July, row across the channel, say you come from Syria or somewhere like that, and it gets three grand every time you do it.
“I think if anything, it might actually encourage more people to cross the English Channel.
“I think they are in absolutely dire straits with all of this. I’ve never thought the Rwanda plan was going to work.”
The UK struck a deal with Rwanda earlier this year which is separate to the stalled deportation plan.
The new agreement is aimed at removing tens of thousands of migrants who have no right to stay in Britain but cannot return to their home country.
The scheme is an extension of existing Home Office voluntary returns, under which migrants are offered financial assistance worth up to £3,000 to leave the UK for their country of origin.
