Thousands of asylum seekers could be housed in vessels moored near Newcastle, Harwich, Felixstowe and the Royal London docks, the Guardian has learned. Rishi Sunak confirmed on Monday that the government had acquired two more giant barges to house about 1,000 people seeking refuge in the UK. It is understood that these are expected to be moored in Teesport, near Middlesbrough, and in docks near Liverpool. But sources have said that discussions over the acquisition of further barges and disused cruise ships so they can house asylum seekers in Tyneside, Essex, Suffolk and near City Airport were already taking place. The development came as ministers prepare for a new wave of people seeking asylum in small boats this summer, amid objections from local residents and legal action over plans to house people in disused military bases. Conservative MPs and refugee charities have questioned whether the vessels will provide humane living conditions for people escaping war, famine and torture. Opposition MPs have said that the plans are a calculated diversion from the government’s failure to reduce the backlog of asylum claims. Speaking at Dover, the prime minister said he would wait to announce where the new barges would be located as there would be “extensive engagement” with local communities. He said another ship planned for 500 asylum seekers, which the government acquired in May, would arrive in Portland off the coast of Dorset within the next two weeks. This was met with a furious reaction from the Conservative MP Richard Drax, who claimed it would be “nothing more than a quasi-prison”. He told LBC: “They’ve got £9 a week to spend, which isn’t much money – what happens if they disappear? None of these questions have been answered.” Attempting to gain a positive step forward on his mission to prevent refugees from crossing the Channel, Sunak claimed small boats crossings were down 20%, adding that “our plan is starting to work” but there was a long way to go.
Border Force officials in Dover cited bad weather as one reason for the relatively small number of recent Channel crossings, but said extra funding had enabled French officials to encourage some refugees to turn back when setting off on a poor-quality boat. When asked whether he had timed his press conference because of the exceptionally windy conditions in the Channel, resulting in fewer crossings, Sunak said: “Of course the summer is coming. Of course gangs will keep trying different routes and different methodologies. “We need to be alert to that. It’s why we need to pass the [illegal migration bill]. It’s so important that the law passes because that will really help us resolve this problem. And in terms of the timing of my visit: there’s many things I can control, the weather is not one of them. I wish it was so.” In his speech, the prime minister made a point of insisting asylum seekers should be “willing” to share a taxpayer-funded hotel after reports that a large group were left in the streets of Westminster for two nights in a row. “If you’re coming here illegally, claiming sanctuary from death, torture or persecution, then you should be willing to share a taxpayer-funded hotel room in central London,” Sunak said. The Home Office has since said the government is seeking to ensure asylum seekers are not given single hotel rooms, which they believe will save approximately £250m a year. Later in the Commons, Labour accused Suella Braverman of getting her figures wrong after the home secretary claimed the backlog of people awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claim had reduced. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, asked Braverman to withdraw the claim but she declined. Braverman said: “The asylum initial decision backlog is down by 17,000, and we are on track to abolish all legacy cases by the end of this year.” Making a point of order, Cooper said: “Home Office official statistics say the asylum initial backlog is now over 170,000, up from 160,000 in December. “I know there was a lot of nonsense in what the home secretary said, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, but this is about facts, the facts given to parliament.” The government’s latest data, released on Monday, shows that last month 2,440 legacy backlog decisions were made, nearly 1,000 fewer than the previous month. According to the Refugee Council, for Sunak to fulfil a promise of clearing the legacy backlog by the end of 2023, there will have to be more than 10,500 decisions made each month for the rest of 2023. A Home Office spokesperson said the pressure on the asylum system had continued to grow and required a range of accommodation options that offered “better value for the British taxpayer than expensive hotels”. “This is why we continue to source new alternative sites and vessels to accommodate migrants,” they continued, “which are more manageable for communities, as our European neighbours are doing. “We are also taking immediate action to clear the asylum backlog by doubling the number of asylum caseworkers to 2,500 and streamlining interviews and paperwork.”