“England is full” – Sunak says migrants will ‘be moved out of hotels into disused ferries and military bases’ – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

“England is full” – Sunak says migrants will ‘be moved out of hotels into disused ferries and military bases’




Rishi Sunak is expected to move asylum seekers out of hotels and into disused military bases and ferries under government schemes.

Government sources have not denied the proposals, which The Telegraph reported yesterday, could be announced in the coming weeks.

As early as next week, Sunak could say whether this is the “beginning of the end” for asylum seekers’ use of hotels, reports Metro.

Instead, asylum seekers in Britain will be housed in “decent but rudimentary” accommodation on former military bases, The Telegraph said.

The reported plans came after a Lincolnshire councilor suggested 1,500 asylum seekers could be housed at RAF Scampton in accommodation including cabins on the runway.

More than 40 historians, including Tom Holland, wrote an open letter criticizing the plan, with local people and politicians opposing the plan.

The historians wrote: “To erase Scampton’s heritage, rather than preserve, protect and enhance it further, would be a scandalous desecration of immeasurable recklessness,” reports Metro.

Ministers are also considering ferrying people, although it is clear that previous plans to use holiday camps and student residences are no longer viable.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being placed on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country,” reports Metro.

The Migrants’ Rights Network tweeted today: ‘Yet another appalling and inhumane measure by the Home Office,” reports Metro.

Some families have spent months or even a year in temporary shelter, according to a report by the campaign group Refugee Council.

The report said the number of families – including 25,000 children – forced to stay in a hotel room has increased by almost a third.

Asylum-seekers described being housed in remote accommodations, their allowances barely covering bus passes, phone and internet bills, and clothing.

Others said they faced leaking windows, broken heaters and inedible food.

One asylum seeker, who has spent five months living in temporary housing as he awaits a response to his claim, said he lives on just £8 a week I don’t understand why they put me in the middle of nowhere,’ Zarith told Metro.co.uk of the Home Office, adding that he has to walk for two hours to get to his nearest pharmacy,” reports Metro.

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