Taxpayer funds spent on anti-deportation lawyers as Home Office gives £17,647 to campaigners

Taxpayer funds are being spent on anti-deportation lawyers and activists protesting against Priti Patel’s plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Home Office mandarins signed off £17,647 in grants to a radical campaign group that last week staged a protest outside the department about its own policy.

Government grants have also been given to law firms working to prevent Channel migrants from being returned to France.

In 2020-21, the Home Office gave Migrants Organise a £17,647 grant, new transparency figures have shown.  

This is on top of £11,502 in the previous two years.

Last Thursday, Migrants Organise promoted a protest outside the Home Office against the Rwanda deal.

Its chief executive Zrinka Bralo claimed Ms Patel’s plan amounted to ‘kidnapping and deportation of refugees’.

The chief executive of one funded group said the government is ‘kidnapping’ migrants

Meanwhile, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a quango set up by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, gave £240,000 to a project aiming to decriminalise activists who help illegal migrants – including those who block deportation planes from taking off.

Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers’ cash should not be propping up controversial campaigners.’

A UKRI spokesman said: ‘Applicants to UKRI research grants are free to research any topic within our remit. 

‘The process is highly competitive and the decision to fund these research projects is made via a rigorous peer review process based on excellence.’