Growing fears of receiving Asylum Seekers in UK towns

As officials battle to control the asylum backlog, the government is looking for more abandoned cruise ships, ferries and barges to shelter asylum seekers in ports across the nation, with Merseyside believed to be next in line.

The local police commissioner and council leader, both Conservatives, have voiced significant concerns about a Home Office proposal to lodge more than 500 asylum seekers aboard a massive barge in Dorset.

Despite criticism from Conservative backbench MPs, Home Office insiders have acknowledged that they may need to find additional hotels to lodge people after failing to find the 10,000 spaces they had planned for in military camps, abandoned jails, and huge vessels.

This week, the barge—which can accommodate roughly 220 people—is anticipated to arrive in the UK for a makeover before being transferred to Dorset in late June.

“We have been clear that using hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – at present, there are over 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels, costing the UK taxpayer £6m per day,” a Home Office spokesperson said.

To save money for the British government, “we must use alternative lodging options, as our European neighbours are doing, including the use of barges and ferries.”

The Home Office government has been accused of saying conflicting information about asylum seekers, with one report saying they praised the community for being heroes, the next vilifying them claiming they are criminals. Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has come under fire as many claim she is only fanning the flame of fearmongering among locals in port-towns who are set to receive the new arrivals to their communities.

Another town set to receive asylum seekers came together at Wethersfield village hall in north Essex, with worried locals asking Home Office representatives concerns regarding the probable impending arrival of hundreds of asylum seekers. One of the residents requested those present at the meeting to stand up if they disagreed with the proposals. 160 residents in the room rose to their feet in unison. The solution to this international issue is far out of sight, and with worried residents and those displaced seeking asylum seemingly at odds, it is a problem that will only be more pertinent in the coming years.