As the UK politicians strive to control the asylum backlog, Home Office plans to acquire ten abandoned cruise ships in order to shelter asylum seekers in ports across the country.

Liverpool is anticipated to be the next port of call, according to the reports.

The officials reportedly have been asked to consider ‘all options’ including former military camps and jails to house migrants who have not not been reinstated already.

Since December, there has been an addition of 1500 more people as migrants.

Despite criticism from Conservative backbench MPs, Home Office insiders have acknowledged that they may need to find additional hotels to lodge people after failing to find the 10,000 spaces they had planned for in military camps, abandoned jails, and huge vessels.

According to information provided to The Guardian, a top maritime corporation is even looking into the viability of putting migrants on abandoned oil rigs, a concept that ministers ruled out in 2020 due to significant logistical and safety issues and which the Home Office is unlikely to accept.

In an effort to allay concerns from Tory backbenchers about the use of hotels in their constituencies, ministers confirmed plans to house about 400 people in a gigantic barge in Dorset.

The revelation that the government wants up to 10 vessels comes at a cost of millions from taxpayers’ money.

Beginning in early June, the first gigantic boat Bibby Stockholm will be berthed in Portland harbour.

Later that month, the first group of migrants, who are anticipated to be single men nearing the conclusion of their claims for asylum, are anticipated to board. More migrants are anticipated to arrive throughout the summer.

Also Read: UK Migrant Crisis: ‘Illegals quickly become involved in crime, drug trade, prostitution,’ says Suella Braverman

Although no contract has yet been signed, Whitehall sources claimed that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, was “close to confirming” a deal for a 1,800-capacity former cruise ship to house migrants to be berthed in the Mersey.

The local council must be fully involved in order for Peel Ports, which owns and operates port infrastructure in the Birkenhead region, to move forward with the proposals.

Local officials, meanwhile, have criticised the idea and called it a “floating prison,” citing a lack of infrastructure.

The utilisation of abandoned cruise ships and ferries was originally intended by the ministers because they could carry more passengers.

According to information provided to The Guardian, officials have been urged to locate 10,000 additional locations outside of hotels before the end of the year. But as of now, only 5,400 locations are anticipated to be prepared to receive immigrants by the end of this year, according to sources.

They include housing at the formerly used military bases in Wethersfield and Scampton, which could accommodate 3,700 people, as well as the reopening of the 1,000-person capacity immigration detention facilities in Campsfield, close to Oxford, and Haslar, in Hampshire.

400 people would be stationed on the barge in Portland, Dorset, and another 1,200 may be housed in Northeye, a former jail in East Sussex, and at barracks in Catterick, in Sunak’s North Yorkshire constituency.
Although critics claim it would amount to arbitrary detention, a government source claimed the use of enormous barges or renovated ferries and cruise ships to house refugees could have a “deterrent effect” on people arriving in small boats.

The total asylum backlog increased from 136,230 in December to 138,052 in March, according to Home Office data provided last week ahead of the House of Commons’ third reading of the illegal immigration bill.

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