Government officials are trying to reduce annual spending of £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) on housing for asylum seekers.
The UK government has revealed plans to house asylum seekers in disused army barracks as it seeks to reduce the cost of temporary accommodation for migrants, according to a proposal published on Wednesday.
The proposal, which was detailed on Wednesday by UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick in the House of Commons, comes amid controversial plans by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government to reduce migration cross-channel – with Jenrick citing an annual turnover of £2.3 billion ($2.8). billion) that are currently being paid to temporarily house migrants while asylum claims are processed.
Disused military sites, Jenrick said, will be “It will be scaled up over the coming months and will collectively provide accommodation to many thousands of asylum seekers through barracks blocks and re-used cabins.”
However, he refused to confirm media reports in the UK that suggested they intended to put migrants on boats, saying only that the Home Office is “Explore the possibility” of the accommodation of asylum seekers on ships “as they are in Scotland and Holland.”
It comes amid reports that Home Office officials have warned that housing migrants on boats or ships could be more expensive than hotels.
Prime Minister Sunak has made curbing illegal migration one of his central priorities since taking office in October. He has faced backlash from political rivals over the introduction of his Illegal Migration Bill which, among other things, proposes the transfer of migrants from the United Kingdom to Rwanda.
The bill also greatly reduces the options migrants may have to oppose their removal from the UK, and places renewed emphasis on the office of Home Secretary Suella Braverman. “remove illegal entrants”. Critics have said this violates international law and has been rebuked by various human rights groups, as well as the European Union and the Council of Europe.
The Labor Party, the leader of the opposition in the United Kingdom, accused the government of “an admission of failure.” The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, told MPs on Wednesday that the plans were brought forward only after several years of demonstrating an inability to reduce cross-channel migration and the use of hotels as temporary accommodation.
You can share this story on social media:
