State exit payments create pull factors

Offering large, public cash sums to rejected asylum applicants (here: Labour's proposed up to £40,000) creates a predictable incentive for more people to attempt asylum claims and for smugglers and agents to exploit the policy. The policy thus risks backfiring: higher arrivals, greater fiscal cost, and weakened deterrence credibility. — If adopted, such 'pay‑to‑leave' schemes could reshape migration flows, public finances, and electoral politics by turning return assistance into an unintended recruitment subsidy.