Rishi Sunak says two more barges will be used to house about 1,000 asylum seekers
Two more barges will be used to house asylum seekers as part of continued efforts to reduce Channel crossings, Rishi Sunak has announced.
The prime minister declined to say where they will be moored, but said they will have the capacity for an extra 1,000 migrants who enter the UK illegally.
Speaking from Kent, he also announced that another ship for 500 asylum seekers, which the government acquired in May, will arrive in Portland off the coast of Dorset within the next two weeks.
This was met with a furious reaction from the local Conservative MP Richard Drax, who claimed it will be “nothing more than a quasi-prison”.
He told LBC: “They’ve got £9 a week to spend – which isn’t much money – what happens if they disappear? None of these questions have been answered.”
Charities and opposition MPs also condemned the expansion of the plan and urged the government to concentrate on reducing the asylum seeker backlog rather than putting out “cynical spin”.
Mr Sunak also said thousands of extra spaces for migrants had been found in hotels by making people share rooms
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Mr Sunak said Channel crossings were down by a fifth compared to last year and “our plan [to stop the boats] is starting to work”.
He said there was more to be done, adding: “To reduce pressures on local communities we will also house people on ships. The first will arrive in Portland in the next fortnight and we’ve secured another two today.”
On top of this measure, Mr Sunak said thousands of extra spaces for migrants had been found in hotels by making people share rooms.
The prime minister insisted this was “more than fair” following protests outside accommodation in Pimlico, south London.
He said: “If you’re coming here illegally claiming sanctuary from death, torture or persecution, then you should be willing to share a taxpayer-funded hotel room in central London.”
The Home Office later said the move will save £250m a year and could reduce the need to source an additional 90 hotels.
However, Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said this measure is “not new”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “The real problem is that they’re still increasing the number of hotels, increasing the number of hotel rooms that they’re using in the first place, and that reflects this failure to just take basic decisions to actually clear the backlog, to make decisions and get the system properly working rather than this chaos.”
Crossings ‘down by a fifth’
Some 172,758 people were waiting for an initial decision on asylum applications at the end of March, up 57% from a year earlier and the highest figure since comparable records began in 2010, according to Home Office figures.
Mr Sunak said numbers published on Monday show the backlog is down by more than 17,000 and insisted the government was “on track” to clear it by the end of the year.
He also said that Channel crossings were down by 20% and his returns deal with Albania had led to 1,800 people being sent back, and was having a deterrent effect.
Mr Sunak said: “Before I launched my plan in December, the number entering the UK illegally in small boats had more than quadrupled in two years. Some said this problem was insoluble, or just a fact of 21st-century life.
“They’d lost faith in politicians to put in the hard yards to do something about it. And of course, we still have a long way to go. But in the five months since I launched the plan, crossings are now down 20% compared to last year.”
He went on to defend the inclusion of children in new detention rules, claiming that to exempt them would create an “incentive” for smugglers to put more young people on boats.
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And he said preparations are being put in place so that once legal challenges are complete “we have more detention capacity to hold those who arrive illegally, enough court capacity to process their cases and the planes to remove them”.
“With grit and determination, the government can fix this and we are using every tool at our disposal,” he said.
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The speech comes after polling found the majority of the British public think that the prime minister is failing on his five priorities, which include stopping small boat crossings.
Mr Sunak has staked his premiership on reducing illegal immigration and has previously announced plans to house asylum seekers in former military barracks to reduce reliance on hotels, which the government says is costing the taxpayer £6m a day.
The Home Office said sites at Wethersfield and Scampton – which have faced objection from local Tories – will open this summer and house 3,700 people.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the promise of further measures to tackle the crisis was “like Groundhog Day” and the government should focus on securing more returns agreements.
He told reporters in Somerset: “We need to stop the boats. We’re clear we don’t want anyone making that dangerous journey.
“But all we’ve had from the government is policies that aren’t working, then the re-announcement of the same policy, with a self-congratulatory pat on the back. It feels like groundhog day and it’s costing the taxpayer a fortune.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats dismissed Mr Sunak’s speech as “cynical spin” to cover up the fact they “have broken our asylum system”.
Charities also condemned the plan.
Amnesty International UK said the barges plan was “potentially unlawful” and a “terrible idea” designed to distract the public from the government’s failure to tackle the asylum claims backlog.
The Refugee Council branded Mr Sunak’s rhetoric on migrant crossings “misleading, wrong and harmful” and said his policies fail to treat people fleeing their home country with dignity and humanity.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Ukraine’s partners to make sure Russia doesn’t “deceive” them over a ceasefire.
After breakthrough talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Saudi Arabia, Kyiv said it was ready to accept a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
But his nightly address on Wednesday evening, a day after the Jeddah summit, President Zelenskyy said, “we must move toward peace” – but issued a warning to allies.
“The key factor is our partners’ ability to ensure Russia’s readiness not to deceive but to genuinely end the war,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Because right now, Russian strikes have not stopped.”
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From Tuesday: Ukraine backs ceasefire plan
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The focus has now switched to Vladimir Putin’s response to the proposed ceasefire. President Trump said the US had received “some positive messages” adding: “We have people going to Russia right now”.
However, he warned Moscow: “In a financial sense, yeah we could do things very bad for Russia, would be devastating for Russia.”
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Will Russia go for ceasefire deal?
European defence ministers, meeting in Paris, said now was the time for Moscow to show it was serious about ending the war.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey was among those attending, and had a direct message for Russia’s president: “I say to president Putin, over to you, you want to talk, prove it.”
Mr Healey called on Russia to accept the ceasefire and end the war, adding, “the pressure is now on Putin”.
For his part, President Putin has been playing to his domestic audience with a visit to Kursk, where Russian troops finally seem to be gaining the upper hand against Ukrainian forces who seized territory in the Russian region last year.
The Russian line is approaching Sumy from Kursk Oblast
Dressed in camouflage, the Russian president called for his forces to defeat the enemy and completely liberate Kursk, in remarks reported by the Interfax news agency.
He also said enemy troops captured in the region will be treated as terrorists, as Russia’s chief of the general staff told Mr Putin that Ukrainian forces in the region are surrounded.
World
Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers
Hostages have been killed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Pakistan, authorities have said.
The Pakistan military (ISPR) said 21 hostages were killed, as well as four security force soldiers, on the train that was carrying more than 400 people.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had killed 50 people.
A Pakistani government spokesman described the attack as “an act of terrorism,” and passengers who had been freed described how gunfire was “coming from everywhere”.
ISPR director general Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry added in a statement: “Today we freed a large number of people, including women and children. The final operation was carried out with great care.”
A soldier stands guard next to a rescue train after the hijack by separatist militants. Pic: Reuters
The train was hijacked on Tuesday as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
The Jaffar Express was packed with 440 people, including women and children, Mr Chaudhry told local broadcaster Dunya TV.
He added that “militants were in touch with their handlers and masterminds in Afghanistan via satellite phones” during the incident.
Passengers rescued by security forces from the hijacked train. Pic: AP
The train was on a 1,000-mile journey from Quetta to the city of Peshawar.
Militants blew up the railway tracks before firing at the train, killing the driver and trapping it inside a tunnel at Mashkaf.
Security forces exchanged gunfire with the militants who were wearing vests loaded with explosives.
The train was hijacked as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, Pakistan
‘God saved us’
Noor Muhammad, who was travelling with his wife, said: “First, they hit the engine with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).
“After that, gunfire started and explosions were heard, RPGs were used. God saved us.
“They made us get off (the train) and told us to get down or they would shoot. We got down and then they said ‘leave’.”
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Officials said a large number of the hostages had been rescued. Pic: AP
Bashir Yousaf, who was with his family, said: “Everyone was crying and passengers were shouting, everyone was lying on the floor trying to save their lives.
“The sound of gunfire was coming from everywhere, then they (insurgents) told us to get down.
“After getting off we were told not to look back. I just kept walking without looking back to save my family’s lives.”
A soldier keeps watch near to the scene of the hijacked train. Pic: AP
Mr Chaudhry added to Dunya TV that security forces “first took out some of the militants and then began clearing compartment by compartment killing the militants”.
He said the total number of militants was 33, and added that no passenger was hurt or killed during rescue operations.
However, he added that before “the final clearance,” 21 people were killed by the militants. Four Frontier Corps soldiers were also killed.
“Perpetrators will be hunted down and will be brought to justice,” he said. “This incident of the Jaffar Express changes the rules of the game.”
Soldiers and police have been deployed at sites close to the hijacking. Pic AP
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and said security officials were “repelling” the militants, while interior minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attackers “enemies” of the country.
The BLA – designated a terrorist organisation by the UK – had demanded the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons within 48 hours.
It had threatened to start executing the hostages if the government did not fulfil its demands.
The group often targets infrastructure and security forces in Balochistan but has also struck in other areas, including the southern port city Karachi and the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
World
Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers
Hostages have been killed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Pakistan, authorities have said.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had killed 50 people on the train that was carrying more than 400.
Government officials have not confirmed how many hostages have been killed. Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan province, said “we people have also been martyred, but we will share details later”.
More than 50 militants have been killed and the insurgent attack has now ended after a day-long stand-off, according to officials.
A soldier stands guard next to a rescue train after the hijack by separatist militants. Pic: Reuters
Security officials told the Associated Press news agency that more than 300 hostages had been rescued.
Pakistan’s junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said 70 to 80 attackers had hijacked the train.
A Pakistani government spokesman described the attack as “an act of terrorism”.
Passengers who have been freed described how gunfire was “coming from everywhere”.
Passengers rescued by security forces from the hijacked train. Pic: AP
The train was hijacked on Tuesday as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
The Jaffar Express was packed with 425 people, including women and children.
The train was on a 1,000-mile journey from Quetta to the city of Peshawar.
Militants blew up the railway tracks before firing at the train, killing the driver and trapping it inside a tunnel at Mashkaf.
Security forces exchanged gunfire with the militants who were wearing vests loaded with explosives.
The train was hijacked as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, Pakistan
Officials said a large number of the hostages had been rescued. Pic: AP
Noor Muhammad, who was travelling with his wife, said: “First, they hit the engine with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).
“After that, gunfire started and explosions were heard, RPGs were used. God saved us. They made us get off (the train) and told us to get down or they would shoot. We got down and then they said ‘leave’.”
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Bashir Yousaf, who was with his family, said: “Everyone was crying and passengers were shouting, everyone was lying on the floor trying to save their lives.
“The sound of gunfire was coming from everywhere, then they (insurgents) told us to get down.
“After getting off we were told not to look back. I just kept walking without looking back to save my family’s lives.”
A soldier keeps watch near to the scene of the hijacked train. Pic: AP
Soldiers and police have been deployed at sites close to the hijacking. Pic AP
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and said security officials were “repelling” the militants, while interior minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attackers “enemies” of Pakistan.
The BLA had demanded the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons within 48 hours.
It had threatened to start executing the hostages if the government did not fulfil its demands.
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