CHANNEL migrants could be put in warehouses under a Labour scramble to accelerate the end of costly hotels and contain mounting voter fury.
Plans to roll out digital ID to curb small boat arrivals working illegally are also under discussion at an urgent ministerial meeting today.
Small boat migrants could be housed in warehousesGetty
Sir Keir Starmer is aiming to defuse growing anger over Britain’s borders crisis that has seen Reform surge to a commending poll lead.
He today told Cabinet colleagues of the need to go “further and faster” in allaying public “frustration” over the issue.
His Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also said she was looking at moving asylum seekers into “military and industrial sites” in a bid to end hotels and private housing.
While refusing to specify what these sites would be, she did not rule out warehouses being secured for migrant accommodation.
She told LBC: “Well, we’re looking with other government departments and looking with the local councils at what some more appropriate sites might be, and certainly more appropriate than asylum hotels.
“We have managed to cut the bill for these costly asylum hotels by nearly a billion pounds this year.”
Sir Keir has said he wants to stop relying on the current 210 migrant hotels – costing £5.77million a day – before the next election.
Small boat crossings are at a record high, with nearly 30,000 arrivals since the start of the year.
Ms Cooper came under further fire today after being unable to guarantee illegal migrants would start being sent back to France this month.
Since signing the returns deal with Emmanuel Macron in July, more than 3,000 people have crossed the Channel without a single return.
The Home Secretary said she “expected” the first returns to begin this month but would not give a guarantee when pressed.
She told Sky: “I’ve always said from the very beginning on this, it’s a pilot scheme and it needs to build up over time.”
Sir Keir will today chair a special meeting on illegal migration that will consider using digital ID to end the crisis.
While previously ruled out by No10, ministers now see the online documentation as a way to crack down on illegal working that lures many migrants to Britain.
The PM’s spokesman said: “He will be chairing a ministerial meeting later today to consider how we can go further and faster to combat illegal crossings.
“This includes continuing to work with the French authorities, cracking down on pull factors and illegal working, including exploring options around digital ID, accelerating the closure of hotels and looking at better forms of accommodation, and driving further progress returning people with no right to be here.”
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