The newspaper The Times reveals that the British government has purchased tents to accommodate migrants. A decision intended to save money which outrages associations for the defense of asylum seekers.
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The fight against illegal immigration is a priority of the Conservative government, which has promised to cut spending on accommodation for asylum seekers. To reduce a bill which currently stands at 2.3 billion pounds, some of them will be sent as early as next week in a barge moored at the quay in a port in south-west England.
But according to log information The Times, Rishi Sunak’s government is ready to go further. The daily assures that the authorities have already bought tents in which they plan to house the migrants who will arrive in the United Kingdom in the coming weeks. According The Timesthe government plans to accommodate up to 2,000 migrants there in the coming months.
A decision ” cruel » for NGOs
Contacted by AFP, the Home Office refrained from confirming or denying this information, while insisting on the fact that “ the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers is unacceptable “. For NGOs defending the rights of migrants, it is the use of tents that is unacceptable, and even “ cruel », according to the organization Refugee Action, which sees it as a new means of « demonize asylum seekers “. For Labor MP Yvette Cooper, the purchase of tents is partly an admission that their own legislation, which they had promised would end boat crossings, (…) is in fact not intended to work “.
Ten days ago, the British Parliament validated a law criticized by the UN prohibiting migrants arriving by the English Channel from seeking asylum in the country. More than 15,000 migrants have made the perilous Channel crossing on makeshift boats since the start of the year, according to official figures.
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