The Home Office is preparing for a large number of small boat arrivals over the next few days and has issued an appeal for contractor staff from across the country to work at Manston processing centre in Kent even if they are not rostered to work, the Guardian understands.
Government sources have confirmed a high number of crossings are likely in the next few days. Weather conditions on Friday night are thought to be particularly favourable.
The Home Office said it did not comment on operational matters.
The government confirmed there was a very large number of crossings on Thursday with 755 people arriving in 14 boats, pushing the number of people who have crossed since records began in 2018 over the symbolic 100,000 mark.
Thursday’s arrivals included one boat that got into difficulty with 17 people overboard off the Kent coast. They were rescued by four RNLI lifeboats. There were no crossings detected over the previous four days.
According to charity workers in the camps in northern France, where people wait for the smugglers to approve their journey across the Channel, there are “a lot of people on the move” and about 800 people counted in Grande-Synthe camp, Dunkirk, waiting to cross.
The high number of crossings is expected despite the prime minister and home secretary’s repeated pledges to “stop the boats” and Rishi Sunak’s assurances that the policy of more French patrols had significantly increased interceptions of those trying to cross. However, after these interceptions people can simply attempt to cross again the following night.
Speaking to GB News before the 100,000 milestone was confirmed, Lee Anderson, the deputy chair of the Conservative party, said: “I’m very angry about the number. Again, very angry … every single day when I see these illegal migrants.”
Anderson repeated a claim that people arriving on small boats were not asylum seekers. This contradicts Home Office data that suggests 90% of people arriving on such vessels last year claimed asylum.
His remarks coincide with the end of the government’s so-called small boats week, which has focused on stopping Channel crossings.
The first group of asylum seekers due to be housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, were taken onboard this week. Those selected to be accommodated on the vessel are part of a cohort whose claims are being processed in the UK. However, they were removed on Friday when it emerged that potentially deadly bacteria had been found in the water system.
Home Office sources said legionella had been identified on the barge and the 39 asylum seekers onboard were being disembarked.
It is likely that some of the small boat arrivals expected this weekend will be taken from Manston, the reception centre near Ramsgate that became dangerously overcrowded last year and where there was a mass outbreak of diphtheria, to Wethersfield, a former RAF airfield site.
A spokesperson for the Refugee Council said: “For all its talk about wanting to stop people from arriving on small boats, the government’s approach is proving to be deeply flawed and ineffective.
“We know that the increasing number of people risking their lives to cross the Channel is a direct consequence of safe routes being so limited and ineffective. But instead of putting in place more safe routes and treating those fleeing war and persecution with compassion and fairness, the government is focusing on passing expensive and unworkable legislation and shutting down existing safe pathways to the UK.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will provide cheaper and more orderly, suitable accommodation for those arriving in small boats while helping to reduce the use of hotels.
“These accommodation sites will house asylum seekers in basic, safe and secure accommodation as they await a decision on their claim.”
