Channel migrants queue for cash in hand jobs as secrets of UK's £260bn illegal economy revealed

The Sun

14-06-2025

CASH-in-hand labour by migrants who crossed the Channel is a driving force in the UK's illegal economy, which is worth an astonishing £260billion.
A Sun on Sunday investigation found how those coming here illegally on small boats are working for knock-down prices as they are exploited by unscrupulous bosses.
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Economic experts estimate that the size of the entire illegal economy is worth a quarter of a trillion pounds — equivalent to ten per cent of Britain's entire output.
This deprives the Treasury of billions at the very time economists are warning that Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces increasing taxes to fund her £113billion expenditure on major building projects.
It is estimated that £2.2billion-worth of tax is evaded annually by individuals or firms operating entirely in the black economy.
Figures from the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) suggest that one in 11 adults are now involved in the black economy here — with a high level of migration since 2022 linked to the amount of cash-in-hand work.
Nigel Farage said: 'The British people are being taken for fools again. We already know that our borders are in chaos.
'But thanks to successive Labour and Tory governments, those arriving then go on to work illegally on the £260billion black-market economy — all the while we are paying for their accommodation.'
The reality behind these statistics was evident at first light last week as a group of 20 men — including those from Afghanistan — huddled beneath a flyover in Barking, East London.
They were attempting to find work as labourers for as little as £30 a day.
One of them, who gave his name as Torab and said he was 23, claimed he had arrived in the UK on a dinghy.
He said: 'I arrived in England on a tiny boat with 48 people. The boat was so small I thought it was going to sink.
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'I live in Luton, in a hotel with other asylum seekers. Two people in my room, me and another man from Afghanistan. I come here to Barking two, three times a week. It takes about one and a half hours. I arrive here no later than 6.30am. I don't know if the work will come.
'I normally do building work, carpentry, but will do whatever there is.
'They give me £70 a day, sometimes £80. I think it's a fair price.'
Ato, 33, from Accra, Ghana, who said he arrived in the UK in the back of a lorry, moaned: 'There's too many people here today.
'The cars come and you have to run to get a job first before the others waiting, but there are always more than 15 people trying.
'I come twice a week normally. I used to come more but there is ­little work here now.
'When the work comes, the pay is not so good. They're long days, lots of hours, and sometimes it's just £30 or £40. Sometimes people don't get paid. Yes, I like the UK because there are jobs. But it's hard with no money, with no work.'
At 6am last Monday, there were around 15 to 20 men waiting but that had increased to 30 by 7.30am.
Some wore backpacks and carried paint-smeared buckets and tools.
The following day, 15 miles away in Stanmore, North West London, a queue of men gathered outside a builders' merchant — not to work there but hoping to be transported to jobs elsewhere.
A red Toyota car pulled up and the passenger doors opened, causing a rush of men to try to get in.
After less than a couple of minutes of apparent negotiations with the driver, just three men got in, leaving the others looking disappointed at failing to land work.
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The same scenes are said to be common in cities up and down the country.
In Leeds, migrants ­congregated on a road to try to get cash-in-hand work on Thursday morning, as builders' vans pulled up.
At 8am two of the waiting men approached our reporters and asked if they were looking for workers.
One man, who said he was Romanian and called Alex, asked in broken English: 'You got any work? I'm a very good builder, very good paver.'
He said he turned up every day to the same roadside spot, hoping to be picked up for a shift, quoting £100 for a full day's labour, insisting on cash only.
His pal, who also said he was from eastern Europe, said: 'I'm a builder — brickwork, tile work, plasterboard work. I can do it for you.'
Asked why they stood on that particular corner, he nodded towards passing vehicles on a busy main road: 'Because of the English guys in vans, they stop for us.'
The number of people participating in the black market for jobs has grown by 80 per cent since 2016, according to NatCen's report.
A rise in the level of illegal migration was one of the main ­factors blamed for this.
Politicians in France, where the authorities are accused of failing to stop migrants boarding Dover-bound small boats, have blamed Britain's lax tax rules and lack of enforcement action as key reasons.
But last week the Home Office boasted there had been a 51 per cent surge in the number of arrests in immigration enforcement since the general election last year.
Facebook was reported by The Times last week to have a vast illegal market in delivery app log-ins, such as Deliveroo, being offered for 'rent' to black market workers.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: 'Britain's being mugged. This black-market economy is undermining real businesses and sucking cash out of public services.
'Labour promised to smash the gangs, but Starmer cancelled the only workable deterrent, and now we're seeing the highest numbers of small boat crossings on record.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'Unscrupulous employers and illegal workers will be held to account under this Government — since coming into power we have increased raids and arrests for illegal working by 50 per cent compared to the previous year, with 9,000 visits and 6,410 arrests.
'We must not stand for this. The rules need to be respected and enforced."
KICK THEM OUT NOW
By Nigel Farage, Leader of the Reform Party
ON Question Time last week, Labour's clueless Treasury minister Darren Jones made an extraordinary claim.
He told the BBC's top debate show that 'the majority of people in these boats are children, babies and women' when they cross the Channel. This is simply not true.
The Government's own website states: 'Seventy per cent of people detected arriving irregularly have been adult males aged 18 and over.'
And — thanks to the exclusive Sun on Sunday investigation published here — we now know what many of them get up to once they arrive.
The British people are being taken for fools again. We already know that our borders are in chaos.
But, thanks to successive Labour and Tory governments, those arriving then go on to work illegally on the £260billion black market economy. And all the while we pay for their accommodation.
If Barking in East London is anything to go by, this scandal is playing out in towns and cities right across the country.
Nearly 40,000 boat migrants have arrived since Labour came to power — and numbers are up 40 per cent on this time last year.
How many of these already work on the black market without paying tax?
Labour has long championed the mantra of British jobs for British workers.
But brickies and builders are being undercut by illegal labour. Britain is in social and economic decline. The social contract is stretched to its limits.
People that pay their taxes and play by the rules increasingly feel shafted.
Yes, these migrants may be victims of exploitation — but they are also part of the criminal economy.
Unscrupulous bosses are laughing all the way to the bank while British workers get priced out again.
I was the first to highlight the impending invasion of young, un- documented males.
Most of the media ignored me. But we can now see I was right. Immigration is out of control.
The situation in the Channel is a security emergency.
If we cannot stop this in Barking, how on earth will we control the borders in Dover? Keir Starmer's soft touch is laughable.
He promised to smash the gangs — but all he has smashed are illegal immigration records.
The only way to deal with this problem is to say everyone that comes to Britain illegally will be deported — and actually mean it.
That means leaving the European Convention on Human Rights. We need immediate deportations.