Britain expects that up to 56 thousand boats of illegal immigrants will arrive in the country across the English Channel, and the country will have to accommodate up to 114 thousand asylum seekers, writes Reuters.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping migrant boats one of his top political priorities, especially after the number of immigrants arriving on Britain’s south coast reached 45,000 last year.
In the documents submitted to the London court on Wednesday, the 19th of April, the British government explains that in March 109 thousand asylum seekers were accommodated in the country, of which 48 thousand were in hotels, which cost 6.2 million pounds per day.
The document submitted by the government as an explanation in the legal proceedings against it says: “Significantly, the number needing support is predicted to grow still further: Home Office operational plans are based on scenarios of up to 56,000 small boat arrivals in 2023.
That would take the supported population to between 120,000 and 140,000.”
In March, Sunak’s Conservative government announced a new law banning people arriving across the Channel in small boats from claiming asylum.
The government is looking into housing asylum seekers in empty military bases or on larger, moored vessels. This has caused anger in some municipalities. Braintree Council, which manages the area northeast of London, turned to the court for this very reason – to prevent the conversion of the air base there into an immigrant settlement.
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