almost 2 000 migrants reached the uk by
boat last month alone according to new
figures that's more than in the whole of
last year
now ministers are understood to be
considering plans to house asylum
seekers on disused ferries moored off
the british coast while their claims are
assessed
our home editor mark easton has more
a combination of the pandemic and the
arrival of thousands of migrants in
dinghies this summer has put so much
pressure on the home office asylum
system that civil servants and ministers
have been considering housing some
offshore a recent government
brainstorming session
included discussion on whether it was
feasible to move asylum seekers to
ascension and centaulina
islands thousands of miles away in the
middle of the atlantic this was in the
realms of cloud cuckoo land are you
can you just confirm whether or not
civil service time was actually spent
investigating something where you
couldn't even land
an aircraft no decisions have been taken
no
final proposals have been put to
ministers or to anyone else this is in
the
realm of the brainstorming stage of a
future policy
another idea discussed by ministers was
to hire disused ferries
as the home office did in 1987 when
reception centers were overwhelmed by
the arrival of tamil refugees
already this barracks in folkestone is
being used to house asylum seekers
as are 91 hotels including this one in
glasgow which has seen protests over
conditions
56 asylum seekers tested positive for
coronavirus
at this birmingham hostel which was
closed earlier this month
more than nine and a half thousand
asylum seekers are currently in hotels
in 50 local authorities
because virus restrictions have reduced
official accommodation
122 of those migrants have tested
positive for covid19
and around 750 are currently in
isolation
the idea of processing asylum applicants
offshore
is a reality in australia where the
island of nauru is used to keep migrants
outside national territory while their
claims are investigated
we will replace the asylum system in its
entirety
with offshore processing of all claims
to deter all but genuine claims for
protection from persecution
over the last two decades both the
conservatives and labor have looked at
ways to move asylum seekers offshore
but it's always proved legally and
practically challenging
it's another one of the government's
crazy schemes i don't think it will come
to anything
we use prison ships in the victorian era
and there's a reason that we don't do
that anymore it's because it's not an
acceptable way to keep fellow human
beings with weather conditions worsening
it's likely the number of asylum seekers
crossing the channel will be much
reduced
a chance for the home office to draw
breath and find realistic solutions
to a familiar challenge mark easton bbc
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