The home secretary’s plans to accommodate thousands of migrants in marquees at disused military sites have been criticised as “staggering” and “cruel” by a leading refugee charity.
The tents will start to be erected over the coming weeks as part of emergency plans to deal with an expected surge of Channel crossings over the next few months.
The plan is part of Ms Braverman’s mission to end the reliance on housing asylum seekers in hotels, which is costing the taxpayer around £6m a day.
A source from the Home Office confirmed to Sky News that the tents could be up and running to house migrants within weeks.
But Tim Nao Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said it was “staggering” that Ms Braverman was proceeding with the plans, after it was reported in the Times that one government source had likened it to using concentration camps.
“The winners from this cruel plan will be the Home Office’s asylum housing contractors, who trouser tens of millions of pounds in taxpayer-subsidised profits as standards continue to plummet,” he said.
“This is yet another way the government has developed to demonise people seeking asylum, which is rooted in its deeply racist approach to refugee protection.
“It really shouldn’t be too much to ask that people who have fled violence, torture and persecution have their claims assessed quickly and justly and are housed in safe homes in our communities.”
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Community volunteer Mohammed Fahim said the migrants were being treated like “second-class citizens” adding: “Let’s treat them as human beings rather than treating them as animals.”
Image: ‘Let’s treat them as a human beings’
However, one asylum seeker who journeyed from Eritrea and was staying in a hotel in the Midlands offered a different perspective.
Speaking to Sky News, Jossy said he would “still have come” to the UK even if the prospect was to be housed in a tent.
He added that his current accommodation was “very nice [since] we compare things from here and our country”.
Image: ‘This accommodation is very nice for us’
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According to The Times, which first reported on the plan for marquees, Border Force is predicting that the next three months will be the busiest time for the small boat journeys in a repeat of last year.
A Home Office source told the newspaper: “It’s obvious we can’t again be in a position where we’re having to spot-book expensive hotels on the fly for migrants.
“There’s nothing wrong with this kind of temporary accommodation when needed. Other countries do use it as well.”
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We have been clear that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6m a day.
“We continue to work across government and with local authorities to look at a range of accommodation options.
“Accommodation offered to asylum seekers, on a no choice basis, meets our legal and contractual requirements.”
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2:02
What’s it like onboard the Bibby Stockholm
The Labour Party was also asked whether it would continue to use hotels or whether it would consider using marquees like the Home Office.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the party wanted to “end hotel use” and that “we shouldn’t need to use all of these additional things”.
“We’ve got to get the [asylum] backlog down,” she said. “That’s why we’ve set before these proposals, we’ve set out a five point plan.”
This is not the first time the government has used marquees to house asylum seekers – several were erected at the Manston processing centre last autumn to deal with a surge of arrivals.
The tents are part of a wider strategy to seeking out new accommodation for asylum seekers to reduce the hotel bill to house them.
A hotel set to house up to 241 asylum seekers in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, was granted a High Court injunction on Thursday to curb protests.
It comes after Carmarthenshire County Council lost its own High Court injunction bid on 7 July to temporarily halt the plans.
On Tuesday, the first asylum seekers are set to move on to the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge, a Whitehall source told Sky News.
An initial 50 single men are set to be moved on board the vessel that is docked in Portland Port in Dorset, with that number expected to rise to 500 in the coming months.
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1:19
Asylum seekers on their experience inside hotels waiting to be processed.
A record backlog and thousands of people making unauthorised crossings of the Channel have strained the system as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak battles to “stop the boats”.
But refugee charities have said the use of such sites is damaging to the needs of vulnerable people, and also raised concerns for migrants’ safety.
Conservative MPs representing areas where the facilities are being established have also been worried about how local services in their constituencies will be impacted, such as police and healthcare.
A month behind schedule after undergoing repairs, the Bibby Stockholm was met by protesters as it arrived in Portland Port on Tuesday last week.
Some residents have raised concerns for their safety on the island with a population of around 13,000 and argued that it does not have the infrastructure to provide for the newcomers and those already there.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The Bibby Stockholm has completed a statutory inspection and refurbishment and is now berthing in Portland.
“The welfare of those in our care is of the utmost priority and the barge is now undergoing final preparations to ensure it complies with all appropriate regulations before the arrival of the first asylum seekers in the coming weeks.”
The government wants councils to crush more vans used to fly-tip rubbish, as it announces a crackdown on the illegal dumping of waste.
No new funding is being given to local authorities for the initiatives, with ministers saying the seven percent raise announced in the budget can be used.
As part of the announcement, the government has also proposed that fly-tippers could face up to five years in prison, although this would require a change in the law.
Image: Environment Secretary Steve Reed attacked the Conservatives’ record. Pic: PA
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “Councils will get much more aggressive against fly-tippers and that includes using the latest technology, things like the new mobile CCTV cameras and drones to identify, track and then seize the vehicles that are being used for fly-tipping to a yard like this and crush them.
“That’s both as a punishment for those people who are dumping the rubbish but also as a deterrent for those who are thinking about doing it.”
He added: “We’re also looking to change the law so that those rogue operators who take rubbish from someone’s home and then dump it on a nearby road – they were getting away almost scot-free under the previous government – they will now be looking at potentially five-year prison sentences.”
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The minister claimed the fly-tipping was “out of control” under the last government.
Data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) shows local authorities in England dealt with a record 1.15 million incidents last year – a 20% increase from 2018/19.
Environment Agency chief executive Philip Duffy said: “We’re determined to bring these criminals to justice through tough enforcement action and prosecutions.
“That’s why we support the government’s crackdown on waste criminals, which will ensure we have the right powers to shut rogue operators out of the waste industry.”
However, the Conservatives claimed that rubbish is “piling high” in areas like Birmingham as refuse workers strike against a pay and jobs offer from the Labour-run council.
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Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Wherever Labour is in charge, waste is piling high – like in Birmingham, where Labour’s inability to stand up to their union paymasters has left rat-infested rubbish littered across the street.
“And with statistics showing that of the 50 worst local areas for fly-tipping, 72% are Labour controlled, it is clear that voting Labour gets you rubbish and rats.
“So the British public deserve real action, not this series of reheated announcements and policies already introduced by previous governments that Labour is peddling.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Under the Conservatives’ watch, local communities have been plagued by a fly-tipping epidemic.
“From overflowing bins to piles of hazardous waste, fly-tipping is blighting our landscapes, poisoning livestock on farming land and causing misery for residents.
“Enough is enough.
“The Liberal Democrats are calling for a fly-tipping fighting fund, to push for stronger local enforcement and tougher penalties for offenders.”
US Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly told Republican lawmakers that the chamber would address a bill on stablecoin regulation before the May 26 Memorial Day holiday.
According to an April 29 Politico report, Thune made the comments in a closed-door meeting with Republican senators, who hold a slim majority in the chamber. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, was introduced by Senator Bill Hagerty in February and passed the Senate Banking Committee in March.
Thune did not mention any crypto or blockchain-related bills in his public comments on US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has signed several executive orders with the potential to affect US crypto policy, including one affecting stablecoins. Still, many of the actions do not carry the force of law without an act of Congress.
The proposed GENIUS bill could essentially restrict any entity other than a “permitted payment stablecoin issuer” from issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States. The House of Representatives, also controlled by Republicans, has proposed a companion bill to the legislation: the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy, or STABLE Act.
Trump accused of conflicts of interest over stablecoins, crypto ventures
The president’s executive order, signed on Jan. 23, established a working group to study the potential creation and maintenance of a national crypto stockpile and a regulatory framework for stablecoins. Republican lawmakers followed by introducing the STABLE and GENIUS acts.
Trump also introduced the order before World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm backed by the president’s family, launched its US-dollar pegged USD1 stablecoin. Many Democratic lawmakers said that Trump’s ties to the firm, coupled with his political influence and position, could present an “extraordinary conflict of interest that could create unprecedented risks to our financial system” as Congress considers the two stablecoin bills.
A court in India has ordered the encrypted email service Proton Mail blocked in the country for refusing to share information with authorities.
In an April 29 hearing of the High Court of Karnataka, Justice M Nagaprasanna ordered the government to “block forthwith” domain names associated with Proton Mail, citing authority under the country’s Information Technology Act of 2008. The order stemmed from a complaint filed in January by a New Delhi-based design firm, alleging that some of its employees received offensive emails through the service.
It’s unclear whether the ban will take effect or face other possible challenges in court. The Proton team reported in March 2024 that Indian authorities had similarly proposed ordering the service blocked in response to alleged “hoax bomb threats,” but it continued to operate in the country.
The crackdown on Proton Mail appeared to be part of a larger global trend to pursue action against platforms based on users’ activities, such as the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France in part for allegedly failing to moderate illicit content. Cointelegraph reached out to Proton for comment but did not receive any response at the time of publication.
In Spain, Proton AG — the Swiss company behind the platform — provided information to the authorities about one of its users in 2024. The move had many privacy advocates questioning the security of their data with the centralized service.
Vying for market share in the world’s most populous country
Cryptocurrency exchanges are no stranger to legally sanctioned crackdowns attempting to curtail their activities in a country, or in some cases, face blocks or bans. US authorities imposed sanctions on crypto mixing services like Tornado Cash in 2022, facing swift backlash from the industry and legal challenges, while South Korea reportedly blocked 14 exchanges on the Apple store for allegedly operating without the proper registration.
In India, users face a 30% tax on profits from crypto trading, which has been in effect since April 2022. Though crypto firms operating in the country endure increasing regulatory oversight, India is estimated to have more than 100 million digital asset holders out of its roughly 1.4 billion people.