Migration detention camps won’t stop the Channel crossings

The age of Blairite Spin has returned to Downing Street and the PR men are having a field day. Our Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, can never be accused of underselling his achievements. He has been cast as the great fixer, the deal maker and the grown-up in the room. His pledge to stop the boats is the centrepiece of his general election strategy. But does today’s  announcement by Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick take us any closer to a genuine solution?

We all know that housing the thousands of young undocumented males who cross the Channel is far too expensive for British taxpayers to fund. At £150 per person per night, it’s costing us all at least £3.5 billion per year  So the big wheeze is that barges or ferries based in ports such as Liverpool or Plymouth could be used to house them instead. As yet, there is no timetable available explaining when this idea may come into operation. It is merely a plan.

That won’t matter to Number 10. Sunak will just be delighted that the tabloids have fallen for the idea hook, line and sinker (forgive the pun) and put pictures of the barges on their front pages. No doubt many Conservative commentators will be cheering on this scheme on as well.

For the record, this idea was tried back in May 1987, when Douglas Hurd was the Home Secretary. He commandeered a ferry called the Earl William and it was used to house illegal immigrants from Africa and Asia. It was smashed from its moorings in the Great Storm that year and everyone on board was removed.

Back to 2023 and another, more practical, plan is that two former RAF bases should each house at least 1,500 migrants. Among those earmarked is the former RAF Scampton base in Lincolnshire.

This, of course, is the historic home of the famous 617 Squadron of Dambusters fame, a world famous site of military interest. The Government doesn’t care. It has been planning to use Scampton for some time. Indeed, at Hibaldstow Airfield, another former RAF base just a few miles away, housing units are already being constructed. The Scampton plan is not only an act of cultural desecration, it also kills stone dead a proposal for a high tech business park and a possible investment into the local community of up to £300 million. The interests of British communities are being put back by the Government’s refusal to confront the real problem: stopping the boats altogether.

RAF Scampton is a symbol of ingenuity, courage and sacrifice. I predict it will now become a badge of shame for a Government that is failing to protect our borders.

Will any of today’s proposals tackle the root of this crisis? Just consider this. Of the more than 50,000 cross-Channel migrants occupying over 450 hotels in Britain, not one is going to be moved to these former RAF bases. They are being made ready for new arrivals only. Just one calm week of weather over the course of late spring or summer would see enough immigrants arriving to fill up the entirety of Scampton. And what then? Should the next batch of uninvited guests be put up at Chequers, or perhaps one of the Royal Family’s properties? Where will this end?

The point is that the Government is only dealing with the symptoms of the problem, and not the cause. I very much doubt the latest plans will save any money either.

Today represents yet another exercise in trying to convince the public how strong the Government is on this issue while expecting voters to continue offering their support. Yet we are no nearer to any viable deportation plan and our friends in the court in Strasbourg, together with liberal British judges, remain a huge obstacle.

The only realistic conclusion from today’s announcement that I can draw is that the situation is set to get very much worse over the course of the coming months. The safest option is not to believe a word this Tory Government says when it comes to making promises or deals concerning illegal immigration.