A plan to house as many as 1800 asylum seekers on a vessel moored off Wirral has been condemned as 'inhumane and unworkable' by the Peninsula's Members of Parliament.
This weekend the ECHO exclusively revealed that the government is considering housing large numbers of asylum seekers on a vessel in the vicinity of the Wirral Waters regeneration project in Birkenhead.
Wirral Waters is a £4.5bn waterfront development currently being built by the Peel Group. Peel Ports owns and operates the waters and port infrastructure in the Birkenhead area and says it will only go ahead with the plans with full engagement with the local council.
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In a joint statement, Mick Whitley, Angela Eagle, and Margaret Greenwood, the MPs for Birkenhead, Wallasey and Wirral West, said: “We owe a duty of care towards those who come to the UK fleeing conflict and persecution.
"Instead, this government is abandoning its responsibilities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people claiming asylum in the UK. Government policy is now being driven by a sense of wanton cruelty without any intention of trying to secure positive outcomes for those involved.”
It is understood that the Home Office first informed Wirral Council that the Mersey was being considered as a location to house refugees on Friday (April 13 2023). Wirral's MPs criticised Ministers for having failed to consult with the council when developing these plans and said that it reflected a “culture of incompetence” within the Home Office.
The MPS expressed concern that the vessel would be located in an area of the borough without adequate transport links and that the refugees would therefore be “stranded on what amounts to a prison ship”. They also warned that local services, including healthcare, would not be readily accessible to refugees with complex needs.
The MPs have pledged to “fight these inhumane plans all the way” and are now demanding a meeting with Home Office Ministers.
Speaking about the plans, Clare Mosley, the founder of the national Care4Calais charity, who also lives in Wirral. said: "It has been encouraging and heart-warming to see the response of the local community to asylum seekers in Wallasey and Hoylake. We know the Wirral is a tolerant and welcoming place.
"However placing a high number of people in confined housing on our shores will place a strain on the local community and on local services. This type of accommodation does not give asylum seekers access to the community support that they need.
"Both the cost and the harm is entirely unnecessary. If the government simply processed people’s asylum claims they could work, contribute to society and would not need to cost taxpayers a penny."
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.
“We have been clear that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6 million a day.
“We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing – including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe.”
A spokesperson for Peel Ports said: “We have provided a berth for a vessel accommodating refugees in Glasgow for the last year and this has worked well thanks to the willing participation of the local authority and their collaboration with the vessel’s management team and the port operations.
"We have similar port infrastructure available in Birkenhead that can be provided for the same purpose. We have been clear throughout discussions that this model can only work successfully with the full engagement and support of the local authority and other relevant stakeholders."
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