Plans are afoot for the British Army to construct migrants camps at an undisclosed location in the southeast of England, capable of housing up to 30,000 people at a time, according to reports.
The operation, which is expected to come at a significant cost to the British taxpayer, will see temporary accommodation erected for those who arrive illegally into Britain via the English Channel, finally putting a stop to the Home Office’s use of hotels across the U.K. to house migrants.
A Government source told British tabloid, the Daily Mail: “The Ministry of Defence will be responsible for sorting out housing for migrants as they arrive. This is likely to involve the use of more barracks or other spaces similar to Napier.
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“We want to dial down the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, which is currently higher than we would like.”
The Napier barracks is an ex-military facility in southeast England that had been used by the Home Office to temporarily house migrants pending asylum applications, its use of which has been severely restricted following outrage by human rights organizations and refugee charities who claimed it was not fit for purpose.
Ever since, the Home Office has been block-booking U.K. hotels, often for months at a time, to house new arrivals.
An civil service insider in Whitehall told the newspaper they believe the new accommodation will act as a deterrent to newcomers.
“People will be housed in temporary, pre-fab buildings and not in mid-market hotels once the project had been rolled out,” it was claimed.
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It was also reported that the Home Office may stop publishing the daily number of new arrivals to Britain, presumably to take pressure off of the department over the ever-increasing crisis emerging in the Channel, which the U.K. Home Secretary had pledged to bring under control. Critics will argue that refusing to publish the figures would amount to an attempt by the government to cover up the reality of the concerning situation Britain faces on its southern border.
The plans follow news reported by this site on Monday that the U.K. Ministry of Defence has taken over control of operations in the English Channel in a bid to stem the flow of illegal immigration, and cast doubt over just how effective the British government thinks its new approach will be if it needs to construct new housing to accommodate up to 30,000 new arrivals.
Conservative broadcaster Nigel Farage believes the deployment of the armed forces into the waterway which separates Britain from mainland Europe will make “no difference whatsoever.”
“Even if the entirety of what’s left of the Royal Navy cruises up and down on the 12-mile line of the British shoreline, unless you’re going to turn the boats around and push them back to France, it makes no difference at all,” he told his Youtube subscribers on Tuesday.
“All it will be is a slightly bigger, and frankly more expensive taxi service,” Farage added.
The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader also voiced concerns over government plans to allow illegal migrants to work legally in the U.K. after just six months, insisting the policy would be the “biggest green light to the criminal trafficking gangs” he has ever seen.
