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Under the government's proposals, families who have exhausted their legal battle to win asylum will have their benefits stopped if they refuse to accept a free flight home.



But critics say the plans will make people destitute. Simon Israel reports.



Asylum applications may be going down. But the Government is striving to reinforce the deterrent message by resisting opposition calls to dilute its proposed new laws to convict and imprison those who destroy immigration documents on arrival in the UK.



Children are not exempt from this, which has prompted some campaigners to suggest it's a self-defeating exercise, leaving the vulnerable even more isolated when they get here.



And by all accounts child trafficking has shown little sign of diminishing in the last few years. There are concerns that this form of modern slavery has exploited the asylum procedures.



Yet while the Government wants new powers to tackle this form of exploitation its plans to stop all support to failed asylum-seeking adults and their children has come under attack from the Labour back benches.



But the Government, despite a small rebellion, won tonight's vote comfortably. So families who refuse a flight home will in future be refused all benefits.