Why Plan To House Asylum Seekers On Ferries Is Home Office's Dumbest Idea Yet
The UK has seen a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving into the UK via small boat crossings – with at least 7,000 in 2020.
With the sudden drop in road freight due to Covid-19 making it harder for people to travel in lorries, the UK’s refugee resettlement scheme paused indefinitely due to the pandemic, and the growing presence of people smugglers in northern France, many of those desperate to travel to the UK have been left with no other choice but to make the dangerous journey by boat.
Urged on by a number of anti-refugee campaigners, including Nigel Farage and far-right activists who have filmed themselves turning up to hotels housing asylum seekers, the UK government has vowed to take action – including bringing the military into the Channel.
In recent days, several papers have reported that Home Office officials are considering adopting the “offshore” model used by the Australian government – housing them on ferries.
That’s in addition to various other increasingly outlandish proposals to process applications on Ascension Island or Papua New Guinea.
But to change the current system – already fraught with problems and the subject of allegations of abuse – could have huge human, financial and environmental implications.
The human cost
It’s important to recognise that asylum seekers, living under what has often been portrayed as a “soft” British system, are already suffering.
In the aftermath of the Glasgow hotel attack in July, in which Sudanese asylum seeker Badreddin Abedlla Adam stabbed six people before being shot dead by police, concerns about the conditions in temporary accommodation for asylum seekers came to the fore.
Positive Action In Housing (PAIH) referred to the situation in Glasgow, where around 5,000 asylum seekers are currently housed, as a “humanitarian crisis”, with the Mears Group – subcontracted by the government – accused of “warehousing for profit”.
In September Glasgow...
