Asylum-seekers' £4m legal aid bill attacked
The legal aid bill for asylum seekers is set to top £4 million a year, official figures show.
The Conservatives branded the costs "astonishing" and called on the Scottish Government to provide a more "value-for-money" scheme.
Figures obtained by the Tories through a parliamentary answer show that the total bill was 3.8 million in 2008-9 and has already reached 2.5 million in 2010-11.
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Hide AdJustice spokesman John Lamont said: "There are hundreds of thousands of asylum cases that have been hanging around for years. This involves a huge cost to the taxpayer, as well as being unfair to those involved."