Asylum seekers to pay £10,000 towards living costs under new UK law

Shabana Mahmood said: ‘Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.’ Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Asylum seekers will be ordered to pay about £10,000 to cover their state-funded living costs or be denied settled status in the UK under a new law to be considered by MPs on Tuesday.

The means-tested scheme, compared by officials to student loans and included in the immigration and asylum bill, has been condemned by charities for placing a tax on refugees fleeing war, torture and famine.