The British government announced on Wednesday 5 April its intention to use a barge at berth in an English port to accommodate 500 asylum seekers.

In the wake of his promise to "stop the boats" used each year by tens of thousands of migrants to make the dangerous crossing, conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak touted a solution to "save money and reduce pressure on hotels".

Interviewed by British television, he highlighted his government's "sensible" and "fair" approach to the fight against illegal immigration, which also plans to deport migrants who arrived illegally on British soil to Rwanda.

In a statement, the Ministry of the Interior highlighted an "important step" in this promise "to stop the boats".

The barge, named "Bibby Stockholm", will be moored in Portland Harbour in southern England and operational for 18 months. It will be able to "accommodate about 500 men while their asylum claims are being examined," the Home Office said.

It will offer "basic and functional facilities", care and 24-hour safety on board, "to minimize disruption to the local population".

A solution used in the Netherlands and Scotland

Sharply criticized for this project recently mentioned by the Secretary of State for Immigration Robert Jenrick, the government stresses that this solution has been used in the Netherlands, but also in Scotland, to welcome Ukrainian refugees.

"The use of expensive hotels to accommodate those who make unnecessary and dangerous trips must stop," Jenrick said in a statement Wednesday. "We will not elevate the interests of illegal migrants above those of the Britons we are elected to serve."

"We need to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing, including the use of barges and ferries to save British taxpayers money and prevent the UK from becoming a magnet" for asylum seekers, he said.

This announcement was opposed by the local community concerned and human rights associations.

"Confining hundreds of people to solitary confinement on a barge is just another theatre the government has created to mask its blatant mismanagement of the asylum system," said Steve Valdez-Symonds, Head of Refugees and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International UK. Denouncing the "cruelty" of the project, he called for its abandonment.

The director of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, said it was a "totally inappropriate" initiative, far from providing the "respect, dignity, support" that asylum seekers deserve.

Disused military sites

According to the government, hosting migrants in hotels costs six million pounds a day (6.84 million euros), 2.3 billion pounds sterling (2.6 billion euros) a year.

In December, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he wanted to cut the bill for accommodation for asylum seekers in half.

Last week, the government announced that two disused military sites would also be used. The project, which is causing criticism from associations and concern among local elected officials, aims to eventually welcome thousands of migrants.

Last year, a record number of migrants – more than 45,000 – reached English shores by crossing the English Channel in small boats.

With AFP

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