2000 asylum seekers to be housed in tents at military sites

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has bought ‘marquees’ to house 2,000 migrants at disused military sites by the end of August.

The Home Office is believed to be responding to a surge of Channel crossings expected in the coming months.

According to The Times, which first reported on the story, Border Force is predicting that the next three months will be the busiest time for the small boat journeys – which echoes a similar repeat of last year.

A Home Office source told the newspaper: “It’s obvious we can’t again be in a position where we’re having to spot-book expensive hotels on the fly for migrants.

Yvette Cooper: “We want to end hotel use.. but we just get slogans rather than solutions from the Tories when it comes to channel crossings… they just have gimmicks rather than getting any grip of it… we need some hard graft to sort this out..”#KayBurley pic.twitter.com/QGwALs1flU

— Haggis_UK ???????? ???????? (@Haggis_UK) July 28, 2023

“There’s nothing wrong with this kind of temporary accommodation when needed. Other countries do use it as well.”

Several marquees were erected at the Manston processing centre in Kent last autumn to deal with arrivals.

Clandestine channel threat commander Dan O’Mahoney said at the time that opening the Manston centre “was a recognition of the fact that the facilities that we had on the docks site down in Dover were not sufficient to deal with the volumes we thought we were going to experience this year”.

The tents are part of a wider strategy to seek out new accommodation for asylum seekers to reduce the hotel bill to house them, which the government claims costs taxpayers £6m a day.

Left: Rishi Sunak, “In the 5 months since I launched the plan small boat crossings down 20%”

Right: Stephen Kinnock, “The reduction is due to bad weather in the channel during May. I don’t think an asylum strategy based on the weather is a particularly sustainable strategy.” pic.twitter.com/R5p1jnlBE0

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) June 5, 2023

Around 50 asylum seekers are set to move on to the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge, a Whitehall source told Sky News.

A Whitehall source has confirmed to the BBC that the Home Office is expecting to send the group to Portland, Dorset, on Tuesday.

Numbers are due to rise gradually over the coming months, with the vessel eventually holding about 500 men.

A record backlog and thousands of people making unauthorised crossings of the Channel have put pressure on services and support, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since declaring “stop the boats”.

But refugee charities said the use of such sites is damaging to the needs of vulnerable people and also raised concerns for migrants’ safety.

Several Conservative MPs representing areas where the facilities are being established have voiced concerns about how local services in their constituencies will be impacted, such as police and healthcare.

Labour have tried to block every vote to stop the boats. Their plan for immigration is an open door.

But I know stopping the boats is a priority for the British people.

And I’m leaving no stone unturned to get it done. pic.twitter.com/aszLVTjOmz

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 25, 2023

Some residents have raised concerns for their safety on the island with a population of around 13,000 and argued that it does not have the infrastructure to provide for the newcomers and those already there.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The Bibby Stockholm has completed a statutory inspection and refurbishment and is now berthing in Portland.

“The welfare of those in our care is of the utmost priority and the barge is now undergoing final preparations to ensure it complies with all appropriate regulations before the arrival of the first asylum seekers in the coming weeks.”