ARMY chiefs are on standby to build migrant camps as part of a crackdown on illegal small boat Channel crossings.
Logistics teams with experience in building barracks in war zones are working up plans to quickly open new facilities on government land.
https://www.deployedresources.com/Migrant camps are set to be built as part of a crackdown on illegal small boat Channel crossings[/caption]
STEVE FINN PHOTOGRAPHYThe plans are being drawn up in a bid to stop record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel[/caption]
GettyNew Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is also looking at other deterrents[/caption]
The move would help ministers speed up the process of getting asylum seekers out of costly hotels and into cheaper makeshift accommodation.
Giving Channel migrants less comfortable housing is viewed as a key deterrent in stopping record numbers of crossings.
A Government source said: “We are acknowledging there are people who are ‘asylum shopping’ across the continent, looking for the country that offers the most.
“We have been criticised in this country for being too generous — creating a pull factor.
“Today, the Government is showing that we get it, that we have been overly generous, and that we will reduce the pull factors that see thousands attempting small boat crossings.”
In a bid to further ditch the “pull factors” luring migrants to Britain, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is today ending the automatic rights of migrants granted asylum to bring their family.
He wants those given permission to stay to “contribute” to British taxpayers who funded their asylum accommodation.
The PM said: “There will be no golden ticket to settling in the UK — people will have to earn it.”
A series of further migrant controls is being planned for an Asylum Policy Statement in the autumn after Sir Keir staked his political life this week on ending the Channel crisis.
The Sun understands that cross-government efforts are being ramped up to close migrant hotels after the PM pledged to accelerate the 2029 deadline to end their use.
Large plots of land are being looked at where the Ministry of Defence could quickly erect makeshift camps such as the ones troops use on deployment.
A senior Whitehall source said: “We know the need to reduce the use of hotels and it’s a cross-government effort. The Army stands ready to help with logistics.”
It would also be seen as a deterrent factor to those thinking of crossing to Britain illegally, and less appealing than the hotels and private housing currently used as asylum accommodation.
Tough-talking new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is also looking at other deterrents to dissuade Channel crossings, and ministers are looking at other countries to help out.
She has vowed to “do whatever it takes to secure our borders”.
Sir Keir will today use a summit of European leaders in Denmark to tighten asylum rules to ditch an automatic right to family reunion.
Last year, more than 21,000 visas were given to families of refugees, the highest on record since figures were first collected in 2005.
It strengthens an announcement in September which made refugees wait several years before they could bring their dependents.
No10 insists genuine refugees fleeing persecution will still be protected, but without the automatic perks of settlement and family reunion.
The current system is not fit for purpose. That is why we’re making fundamental changes to what those granted asylum are afforded in the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer
They will face a tougher road to settlement, with conditions forcing them to work, pay National Insurance, learn English and keep a spotless record before they qualify.
Officials say the shake-up will remove the pull factors luring tens of thousands to illegally cross the Channel each year.
Last night, Sir Keir said: “I believe that if you want to come to the UK, you should contribute to our society.
“That is the tolerant and fair approach to migration that our communities are built on.
“But the current system is not fit for purpose. That is why we’re making fundamental changes to what those granted asylum are afforded in the UK.
“Settlement must be earned by contributing to our country, not by paying a people smuggler to cross the Channel in a boat
“The UK will continue to play its role in welcoming genuine refugees fleeing persecution.
“But we must also address the pull factors driving dangerous and illegal small boat crossings.”
The asylum shake-up builds on Ms Mahmood’s crackdown revealed at the Labour Party conference this week, which doubled the wait for indefinite leave to remain for legal migrants from five years to ten.
Her reforms force arrivals to prove they are working, paying tax, and staying off benefits before securing settlement — with volunteering or employing others helping them to qualify sooner.
The PM’s new plan extends that same philosophy to asylum seekers who arrive illegally in small boats but later win the right to stay.
Returns hubs
Migrant crossings are at a record high under Labour and are the worst at this stage of the year since 2018.
More than 33,000 have already made the journey, including almost 2,000 in the past four days as the party has been holding its annual conference in Liverpool.
In July, Sir Keir signed a “one-in, one-out deal” with France, billed as part of a series of moves to dismantle the smuggling gangs.
The pact allows for 50 migrants a week to be returned — with Britain taking the same number from the French — but so far only a handful have actually been sent back.
In Denmark today, at the European Political Community summit, the Prime Minister will co-chair a migration roundtable.
He will meet Danish PM Mette Frederiksen to announce a £3million partnership tackling migration from the Western Balkans.
Countries in that Balkan region of Europe are being earmarked for deals to host Rwanda-style “returns hubs”.
Britain is putting up a further £5.75million under Italy’s “Rome Process” to choke off migrant flows from Africa and fund voluntary returns.
And the PM will deepen cooperation with Germany in a bid to smash smuggling gangs, including seizing small boat equipment and prosecuting traffickers under new laws due this year.
It comes as a final pre-winter surge of migrants across the Channel is expected before conditions at sea worsen.
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