Channel boat migrants to be housed on cruise ships for the first time

Channel boat migrants to be housed on cruise ships for the first time as thousands are set to stay in massive barges across the country

• Rishi Sunak announced the acquisition of two vessels on Monday in Dover
• These will be passenger liners which will house up to 1,000 small boat migrants

Channel boat migrants will be housed on cruise ships for the first time, the Daily Mail can reveal today.

Rishi Sunak announced the acquisition of two vessels on Monday and it can now be confirmed they are passenger liners.

They will house up to 1,000 small boat migrants between them but the ships’ names are being withheld by the Home Office. 

Although cruise liners have not before been used for Channel arrivals they have hosted Ukrainian refugees in Scotland.

One of the vessels secured by the Home Office is thought to be heading for Merseyside.

Rishi Sunak (pictured) announced the acquisition of two vessels on Monday and it can now be confirmed they are passenger liners

They will house up to 1,000 small boat migrants between them but the ships’ names are being withheld by the Home Office

The site being looked at for the other cruise ship is unclear but Teesport, near Middlesbrough, is thought to be a contender.

Newcastle, Felixstowe in Suffolk, Harwich in Essex and the Royal London Docks are also under consideration, The Guardian reported.

In a speech at Dover on Monday Mr Sunak said: ‘To reduce pressures on local communities, we’ll also house people on ships. 

‘The first will arrive in Portland in the next fortnight. And we’ve secured another two that will accommodate another 1,000.’

The Mail reported yesterday that the French authorities are intercepting more than half of the crossings, compared with four in ten last year. 

About 7,600 people have crossed the Channel illegally so far this year, down from just under 10,000 in the same period last year.

Using hotels as migrant accommodation is costing the taxpayer £6million a day. 

Former Ministry of Defence bases at Wethersfield in Essex and Scampton in Lincolnshire are due to receive their first migrants soon with numbers rising to 3,000 by autumn.

Civil servants are also planning accommodation centres at Bexhill, East Sussex, and Catterick, North Yorkshire.

Rishi Sunak speaking during a press conference at Western Jet Foil in Dover on Monday

The Bibby Stockholm arrived in Falmouth last month for renovations ahead of going into service in Portland off the coast of Dorset in the next fortnight

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: ‘I have been clear that the unacceptable number of people making frankly illegal and dangerous crossings must stop.

‘We will continue to crack down on the abuse of our asylum system, ultimately saving the British taxpayer money.’

Last night Dorset Council said it was dropping a challenge against the Home Office’s plan for the Portland ship.

The council, which had been looking at whether to launch a judicial review, said it had received legal advice that they were ‘unlikely to be successful’.

A Dorset Council spokesman said: ‘After much careful consideration, Dorset Council has decided to not pursue legal action to challenge the Home Office’s decision to site a barge for asylum seekers in Portland Port.

‘Based on specialist legal advice, and the experience other councils have had across the country, any legal action we take is unlikely to be successful and would incur high costs to Dorset taxpayers.

‘We are committed to working with the Home Office and our partners to ensure minimal impact to public services for local people and that provision for the asylum seekers is properly resourced and is effective.’

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