Suella Braverman today confirmed cruise ships could be used to house Channel migrants as she rejected calls for independent experts to rule on asylum claims.
The Home Secretary insisted all options for accommodating would-be refugees - including on luxury liners - remained “on the table”.
Asked about hosting them on cruise ships, she told peers the Government needed to stop housing migrants in hotels, which costs taxpayers more than £5million a day - about £2.3billion a year.
The Government will spend £3.5billion on accommodation and support for asylum seekers in 2022/23, of which £2.3billion will go towards paying for hotels, Ms Braverman told peers.
“We will bring forward a range of alternative sites and they will include disused holiday parks, former student halls,” Mrs Braverman told the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
“When you talk about vessels, all I can say - because we are in discussions with a wide variety of providers - is everything is still on the table and nothing is excluded.”
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael fumed: “Her ludicrous proposals to house refugees in cruise ships will once again be ineffective and incredibly expensive.
“She needs to come clean with the public on exactly how much these plans will cost.”
Mrs Braverman clashed with Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer, over whether asylum seekers’ cases should be heard by an independent unit.
During tense exchanges , Scottish KC Baroness Kennedy said: “There is a very strong feeling that there is a culture of disbelief in the Home Office and that the starting point in dealing with asylum applicants is not to believe their account.
“What about creating something independent of the Home Office, with an independent assessment taking place that isn’t going to be impacted by politics or the pressures the Home Office comes under from the tabloid media and perhaps sections of your own political party?”
The peer, who is co-chairwoman of the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, claimed there was “an antagonism towards increasing numbers of (those) granted asylum”.
She added: “The pressure is on to keep those numbers as low as possible.”
Mrs Braverman dismissed the call, saying Home Office staff were “incredibly sensitive to the real life impact of their work and the individuals that they are considering in their casework”.
She added: “Decisions on individual immigration cases are a fundamental aspect for which, rightly, elected politicians need to be held to account.”
The Home Office’s top civil servant, permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft, insisted: “All the civil servants in the Home Office take their decisions in very difficult, demanding, emotionally-sensitive areas on the basis of very clear, published guidance which sets out in a huge amount of detail …. exactly how those decisions should be taken.
“I reject any charge of political interference in that process.”
But Baroness Kennedy fumed: “I have a great deal of respect for the civil servants; I do not have a great deal of respect for those who are putting pressure on them to reach decisions which they are not able to do on full evidence.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week told the Commons Liaison Committee he was committed to abolishing the backlog of 92,000 asylum claims - as it stood at the end of June - by the end of next year.
However, the current backlog stands at 117,000.
More than 48,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel to Britain in small boats so far this year.
Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, Steve Valdez-Symonds, said:“On top of the clear unsuitability, Suella Braverman’s talk of housing people seeking asylum in old cruise ships, disused holiday camps and student halls is just more distraction from the urgent task of reforming an asylum system that she and her predecessor have effectively broken.”
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