Disused Cruise Vessels May House Asylum Seekers

Disused cruise vessels may be used soon to house asylum seekers. The government expects to spend £3.5 billion on those who have visited the UK for sanctuary from persecution in this fiscal year, the home secretary has explained.

Suella Braverman informed the Lords’ Justice and Home Affairs Committee that her department has been looking at placing asylum seekers on some designated out-of-use cruise vessels.

She mentioned that relevant officials are in discussions with shipping operators.

Mrs. Braverman said that the government owes to spend £3.5 billion on accommodation and support for those who claim asylum in the financial year 2022-2023.

That includes £2.7 billion on accommodation and £2.3 billion on hotels and £400 million on “other kinds of accommodation”, Braverman added.

There’s a significant sum of money that is expected to go into accommodating a large number of asylum seekers, the home secretary added.

There are 117,000 people in the UK’s asylum system, with almost 40,000 in hotels.
She described the problem of hitting a target of achieving 100,000 asylum seekers and getting into local authority accommodation rather than hotels to be “incredibly difficult”.

About 57,000 individuals are seeking asylum that is in council accommodation, she explained.
She added that they will try to bring forward alternative sites, these will include former student halls, and disused holiday parks, and however, nothing is confirmed yet.

References: BBC, Sky News

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Source: Maritime Shipping News