Rishi Sunak said a further two ships to house migrants will accommodate another thousand people.
Speaking on a visit to Dover, the Prime Minister said his message to migrants would be: “If you’re coming here illegally, claiming sanctuary from death, torture or persecution, then you should be willing to share a taxpayer-funded hotel room in central London.
“To reduce pressures on local communities, we’ll also house people on ships, the first will arrive in Portland in the next fortnight and we’ve secured another two today that will accommodate another thousand.” Mr Sunak said small boat crossings were down 20% and “our plan is starting to work” but there is still a “long way to go”.
Mr Sunak, at a press conference, said that “our plan is starting to work” but there is still a “long way to go”.
“Our plan is starting to work. Before I launched my plan in December, the number entering the UK illegally in small boats had more than quadrupled in two years. Some said this problem was insoluble, or just a fact of 21st century life. They’d lost faith in politicians to put in the hard yards to do something about it. And of course, we still have a long way to go. But in the five months since I launched the plan, crossings are now down 20% compared to last year.
“This is the first time since this problem began that arrivals between January and May have fallen compared to the year before.
He suggested that the UK was doing better than other European countries, but said that the Government was not “complacent”.
“With grit and determination, the Government can fix this and we are using every tool at our disposal.”
The Prime Minister, running through Government progress on tackling illegal migration, said that he had raised the issue at numerous international summits.
He also said he was following up on his pledge to “get illegal migrants out of hotels and into alternative sites”.
“Today I can confirm new large sites will open at Wethersfield and Scampton, with hundreds moving in over the summer, and nearly 3,000 by the autumn.
“And while we’re bringing those sites online, we’re also making more efficient use of hotels by asking people to share rooms where it’s appropriate to do so.”
