BORDER FARCE! OUTRAGE AT BONUS PAYOUTS

Shock figures revealed as a record 110,000 claim asylum in just one year

- By Michael Knowles and Matthew Davis

TOP civil servants in the Home Office have pocketed huge pay rises and bonuses despite Britain’s migrant crisis spiralling out of control.

Some mandarins saw their salaries rise by as much as 24% last year — while some raked in a £15,000 bonus. Martin Hewitt, Labour's Border Security Commander, is the highest paid civil servant at the Home Office with a salary of £200,000.

It comes as fury intensified over the party’s record in office during its first full year in government. A record 111,000 people claimed asylum in the year to June and the number of migrants living in hotels has increased during the past 12 months.

Small-boat arrivals are also up nearly 50%, with 28,000 migrants crossing the Channel since January - putting the UK on course for a record-breaking year.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the Home Office under Labour "a dismal failure".

And he added: "Record numbers of illegal immigrants are crossing the Channel this year, numbers in asylum hotels are up since the election and the proportion of smallboat arrivals removed is down to just 5%.

"Instead of handing out bumper payouts, Labour ministers should grip the crisis they have created. Labour has lost control of our borders and they have no plan to fix it.

Instead they're doling out even more of our hard-earned cash." Mr Hewitt's annual salary was revealed in the latest Home Office accounts, which also showed Second Permanent Secretary Simon Ridley, who often gives evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee about the asylum crisis, saw his pay increase by £5,000 to between £170,000-£175,000.

Mr Ridley famously revealed the Home Office was shelling out money for empty hotel beds in case there was a surge in Channel crossings.