The United Kingdom's Interior Ministry is purchasing tents to accommodate up to 2,000 migrants on abandoned military sites to save money on hotels, British media reported on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2023) The United Kingdom's Interior Ministry is purchasing tents to accommodate up to 2,000 migrants on abandoned military sites to save money on hotels, British media reported on Friday.
The border service expects that in the next three months, like last year, the number of refugees crossing the English Channel in small boats will increase dramatically, and the interior ministry decided to prepare for an emergency in order to avoid spending on expensive hotels for migrants, The Times reported.
However, this plan may face legal actions over inhumane treatment of migrants, as some government official warn, The Guardian reported.
This is not the first time the UK government used tents to house migrants. Last fall, several tents were erected at the refugee reception center in Manston.
The purchase of tents is part of a broader government strategy to lower the cost of housing migrants, Sky news reported. Accommodating them in hotels, according to the authorities, costs taxpayers 6 million Pounds ($7.7 million) per day.
On August 1, the first 50 migrants will be placed on the barge Bibby Stockholm, moored in Portland Port in Dorset, according to the report. Despite protests by the local residents and criticism coming from human rights activists, who have dubbed the barge a "floating prison," up to 500 people are expected to be accommodated there in the coming months.
Last month, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to process all asylum claims by the end 2023. The Guardian reported that the backlog reached over 74,000 cases in May, and the interior ministry has to process one claim every four minutes to meet Sunak's target.
Illegal migration has been a pressing issue for the UK for years and only intensified after the country left the European Union in 2020. The total number of migrants who entered the UK in 2022 was over 44,000.
