British government's another controversial migration plan comes under fire

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – The British government has come under fire yet again for its controversial migration policy, this time from a rights group and an opposition leader, after it was revealed that the Home Office purchased marquees to house up to 2,000 irregular migrants.

Despite various government efforts, over 14,000 migrants have crossed the English Channels in small boats this year.

Chief Executive of Refugee Action Tim Nao Hilton told Sky News that Home Secretary Suella Braverman is moving forward with another "controversial" plan, which was reported by The Times daily on Thursday, citing government sources, that the government purchased marquees to house migrants.

"The winners from this cruel plan will be the Home Office's asylum housing contractors, who trouser tens of millions of pounds in taxpayer-subsidized profits as standards continue to plummet," he said.

The plan, as per media reports, aims to accommodate up to 2,000 migrants at former military sites beginning next month, until their immigration documents are processed.

Meanwhile, Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, also slammed the plan, accusing the government of "flailing around" in its approach to clearing backlogs.

"We’ve seen (ministers) really flailing around with the barges, the bases, the tents now. And actually, all this is alongside increasing hotel use when they should be ending hotel use because they’re simply not taking asylum decisions," she told LBC radio.

The UK's other controversial plan is keeping up to 500 single men on a floating barge as Bibby Stockholm barge arrived in Portland on the coast of Dorset last week.

Tackling small boat crossings is one of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five priorities as over 45,000 migrants arrived in the country crossing the Channel last year.