Migrants could reportedly be housed on barges and disused military barracks as ministers seek to curb the use of hotels for asylum seekers. The Government has previously said it spends £6.8 million a day housing migrants in hotels, with extra demand created by thousands of people arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is set to announce today (March 29) that people arriving in the UK through unauthorised means will be put up in sites including RAF Wethersfield in Essex and RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire – the former home of the Dambusters, according to several newspapers. The Times reported that some 3,000 migrants currently living in hotels could be moved to the two bases.
Ministers are also considering using a barge capable of holding hundreds of people, the paper reported, quoting a government source as saying such accommodation would have a “deterrent effect” on people arriving in small boats. Such vessels, typically used for offshore construction projects, have only basic facilities.
