Home Secretary Suella Braverman suggested the UK may use cruise ships to house asylum seekers in an attempt to cut costs the government estimates will run to £3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) this tax year.
(Bloomberg) — Home Secretary Suella Braverman suggested the UK may use cruise ships to house asylum seekers in an attempt to cut costs the government estimates will run to £3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) this tax year.
“Nothing is excluded,” Braverman told lawmakers on Wednesday when asked if vessels will be used. It’s an idea Prime Minister Rishi Sunak floated during the summer leadership race he lost against Liz Truss, who said at the time such a policy would likely be a breach of domestic and international law.
Sunak and Braverman are under mounting political pressure over immigration, and the prime minister unveiled plans to tackle a swelling backlog of asylum claims — which has grown to 117,000 outstanding cases — last week.
His plan includes a target to slash more than 90,000 cases from the backlog by the end of next year and introduce legislation under which anyone arriving in the UK by means the government considers illegal would not be able to stay.
Other measures include housing people in disused holiday parks, former student halls and surplus military sites instead of hotels, which Braverman said cost the government more than £5 million a day.
“We want to end the use of hotels as quickly as possible,” Braverman told the House of Lords home affairs committee.
UK Unveils Crackdown on Asylum Claims Amid Immigration Row
But Sunak himself has gone quiet on the plan to use cruise ships, and reviving the idea would risk drawing criticism from human rights groups and potential legal challenges. Braverman said the government is due to spend £3.5 billion in the 2022-2023 financial year on accommodation and support for asylum seekers, including £2.3 billion on hotels.
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