Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to move all asylum seekers out of hotels into disused ferries and military bases instead, it has been reported. At the moment more than 50,000 asylum seekers are being kept in hotels, costing the government some £7million a day.
According to the Telegraph. the PM is expected to lay out a migrant housing plan next week, with single adult male asylum seekers transferred to former military bases, where they will be provided "rudimentary" but adequate living quarters. Ministers are also contemplating using decommissioned ferries, with plans to use student housing and vacation camps put on ice.
Mr Sunak is expected to argue the living conditions meet the Government's minimal legal requirements, but the approach will be toughened to offset the "pull factor" of asylum hotels and reduce costs.
It comes after violent protests outside hotels where pro and anti-immigrant groups clashed Ministers face resistance from councils in two areas with military bases where migrants are expected to be transferred, with both authorities contemplating legal action.
This comes as up to 60 Conservative MPs, including former ministers, try to toughen the new Illegal Migration Bill by providing UK courts more power and blocking deportation injunctions. The rebel MPs are supporting amendments that will allow plans to detain and quickly remove migrants to proceed, regardless of any European Court of Human Rights rulings.
Military bases and ferries will be used to house Channel migrants who arrive in the UK on small boats, and the new small boat legislation will apply retroactively to migrants who arrive after March 7 but before the legislation is enacted this summer.
The location of the government's ferries is unknown, but RAF Scampton and MDP Wethersfield have been identified as possible military sites that could each house up to 1,500 migrants in renovated barracks. A final decision is anticipated before an announcement as early as next week.
