PLANS by the Welsh Government to pay asylum seekers £1,600 a month in basic income show Labour is “paying” for small boats to cross the Channel, the prime minister has said.

Rishi Sunak agreed that the proposals to offer young asylum seekers who settle in Wales access to an ongoing basic income pilot could incentivise people smuggling.

The two-year pilot is currently open to care leavers in Wales.

The prime minister’s criticism comes after UK ministers reportedly blocked a Welsh Government request for young migrants to receive free legal aid.

Ministers in Cardiff Bay were worried access to the basic income pilot would have an impact on the asylum seekers’ eligibility for free legal representation, according to the Sun newspaper.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative MP Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton) said: “It has been reported that the Welsh Labour Government is going to incentivise people smugglers by offering £1,600 of taxpayers’ money every month to asylum seekers.

“Can I ask him for an assurance that he will never contemplate such a daft idea in our Small Boats Bill?”

Mr Sunak replied: “I know (justice minister) Lord Bellamy and the secretary of state for Wales (David TC Davies) wrote to the Welsh Government yesterday confirming that we would not be undertaking their request.”

In an attempt to link Sir Keir Starmer with Mark Drakeford’s administration in Wales, the prime minister added: “I note that the Labour leader has said that the Welsh Labour Government is his blueprint, and unbelievably as (Mr Clarkson) has said Labour in Wales are trying to pay illegal migrants £1,600.

“We are stopping the boats, Labour is paying for them.”

Wales secretary and Monmouth MP Mr Davies had earlier told the Commons it was “extraordinary” to offer universal basic income to asylum seekers.

Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire), Tory chairman of the Welsh Affairs Committee, said: “What is not fair to the taxpayer is giving people free cash, including young asylum seekers, no strings attached, through a poorly targeted universal basic income. Isn’t that not what responsible welfare is all about?”

Mr Davies replied: “(Mr Crabb) is absolutely correct. And it really is extraordinary that the Welsh Labour Party want to spend millions on handing out a universal basic income to people including asylum seekers, and then not only that, but to then exempt them from having to pay the same legal bills that the rest of us would be subject to.”

Conservative MP Tom Hunt (Ipswich) also attacked the Welsh Government’s proposals, telling MPs: “It speaks to the kind of values that the Labour Party have, that they are prioritising providing huge support for those who have illegally entered our country over maximising cost-of-living support for Welsh citizens.”

Mr Davies said: “The humanitarian response is to disincentivise people from risking their lives by crossing the Channel illegally and arriving here in small boats.

“And that’s why last night I jointly signed a letter which rejected what the Welsh Labour Government are asking for.

“We’re not prepared to see the Welsh Labour Government handing out universal basic incomes to people who shouldn’t be in this country in the first place, and then on top of that to provide them with legal funding and lawyers so that they can challenge the decision being made by the Government.

“These are not the priorities that the Welsh people have.”