Ministers are considering accommodating migrants on ferries and barges, and are considering alternative accommodation options to hotels for those under processing.
The government is trying to cut costs by cutting the estimated £6.8 million a day it spends on hotel accommodation for migrants and asylum seekers.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is expected to announce plans to house migrants in abandoned military bases on Wednesday, but the plans were opposed by some MPs.
This is not the first proposal to place migrants on ships, although the idea was reportedly “ridiculed” when it first surfaced in 2020.
I examines what has changed since then to convince ministers that the policy can work.
What policy is the government considering?
I believes the Home Office is considering using disused cruise ships or giant ships used for offshore construction projects to accommodate migrants.
Sources suggested that while the government’s “direction” is to use ships to house migrants, no actual ships have been purchased.
Ministers are already reportedly considering possible vessels, including a former cruise ship from Indonesia, to dock in southwest England.
The speculation comes as Mr Jenrick is expected to announce plans to house migrants in abandoned military bases instead of hotels to save money.
Why is the government considering placing migrants on derelict ships?
The government is under increasing pressure to find alternative accommodation for asylum seekers in an attempt to cut costs, with hotel accommodation currently costing around £6.8m a day.
Nearly 400 hotels across the country are currently used to accommodate more than 51,000 people in the UK, according to the UK Home Office.
Time reports that a decommissioned 40-year-old ferry from Italy can be bought for £6 million carrying 1,400 people in 141 cabins. There is also an option to buy a decommissioned cruise ship currently anchored in Barbados for £116m, which can accommodate 2,417 people in 1,000 cabins.
Other proposals, such as housing asylum seekers in former military bases, were rejected by Rishi Sunak’s own cabinet.
Plans to use two abandoned military bases – RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and MDP Wethersfield in Essex – for housing met with opposition from local authorities, and Essex council leaders sued.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverley, local MP for Braintree, Essex, who is in charge of the Wethersfield MDP, said the military base was not suitable as a refuge camp due to the “remote location, limited transportation infrastructure and dense road network”. .
Home Secretary Swella Braverman previously promised a “range of alternative locations” and said “nothing is out of the question” as the government considers accommodation instead of hotels.
Has this idea been proposed before?
The government has considered the idea of placing migrants on old cruise ships to discourage previous crossings.
Mr. Sunak proposed putting illegal immigrants on cruise ships during the conservative leadership’s 2022 campaign, saying it would help end the “hotel farce.”
Downing Street later confirmed it had dropped the idea, with a spokesperson saying last October that it was “not aware of any plans” to use cruise ships.
But it wasn’t the first time that the idea had occurred to him. Mr Sunak first raised the issue in 2020 when it was reported that the government was considering processing asylum seekers on derelict ferries off the UK coast, but the idea is said to have been rejected by officials.
Whitehall sources said Time It was “ridiculed at the table” by government officials and at the cabinet level and “quickly tossed aside in favor of being used by other countries”.
Other ideas that were considered at the time were sending migrants to centers on remote islands in the South Atlantic or treating them in facilities in Moldova, Morocco or Papua New Guinea. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel eventually launched the government’s plan for Rwanda.
Can the government actually house asylum seekers on derelict ships?
Sunak was initially forced to abandon plans to house migrants on old cruise ships after government lawyers warned the idea would run counter to Britain’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The treaty prohibits countries from detaining asylum seekers, but it has been proposed to work around this by classifying disused ships as “hotels” before they are used to house asylum seekers.
Comparisons were also drawn between these proposals and the use of courts by the UK prison services.
Between 1997 and 2006, a ship called HMP Weare was anchored off the coast of Dorset, carrying around 400 prisoners, to control prison overcrowding.
Conditions on the ship were heavily criticized after its closure, with operators citing the high cost of operating the ship, supply problems, and the lack of open space for prisoners.
It was described as “depressing and depressing” and “literally and figuratively a trash can” by the warden of prisons shortly before closing.
In Scotland, Ukrainian refugees have been on a cruise ship in Glasgow since September last year.
MS Ambition has taken in about 1,170 people, including 420 children, who will be relocated when the Scottish government’s contract with the ship expires on 31 March.
The contract for the second ship, MS Victoria I based in Edinburgh, has been extended for another five months.
Source: I News
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.