ILLEGAL migrants have been given free TV licences on the taxpayer, a Reform party probe has found.
Nigel Farage’s “Doge” waste-buster team found in 2022 at least £1,000 was spent by Kent County Council on paying small boat arrivals’ telly charge.
They have also been taken trampolining, bowling and to the cinema, according to the party’s audit of the town hall they now control.
They believe the jollies — alongside spending at JD Sports and PC World — have cost more than £24,000 of taxpayer cash.
It comes as dozens of illegal migrants were spotted arriving in Britain on dinghies yesterday, adding to the 16,000 so far this year.
Zia Yusuf, the leader of Reform’s Doge group, remarked: “British citizens have been unfairly criminalized for neglecting to pay for a TV licence for far too long, while asylum seekers’ fees are being covered by the taxpayers.”
“The old Tory regime at Kent County Council has a lot to answer for. Reform will fight for taxpayers.”
Reform won control of the local authority — and 11 others across the country — from the Tories in May’s local elections.
Since then they have begun sending in their people to root out waste in an Elon Musk-style cost-cutting drive.
The findings risk angering voters as local authorities prepare to raise council taxes again.
Town halls are set to hike rates by the maximum five per cent to meet Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for more police funding.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister passed the buck by blaming any rises that are to be introduced on town halls rather than his decisions.
He said: “Council tax rises are obviously for councils to decide, year on year, which is what they all do.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that council tax is set to rise at the fastest rate for two decades.
Local councils have the power to raise their bills by five per cent a year to pay for their services.
They can raise taxes by more than five per cent — but to do that they would have to hold a local referendum to force through the changes.
RIDICULE FOR KEIR
SIR Keir Starmer was mocked for asserting to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni that the UK is at the forefront globally in combating smuggling gangs — even though over 16,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year alone.
The PM made the boast at a meeting at the G7 summit even though small boat journeys are up 42 per cent this year and 79 per cent on 2023..
Meanwhile, more migrants — including a man with a child on his shoulders, waded into the sea to board a boat at Gravelines, France, yesterday.
