Hundreds of migrants could live in marquees to 'relieve pressure on local communities'
The Home Office are looking for new accommodation options for migrants. A spokesman revealed "there are more than 51,000 in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6million a day."
Hundreds of migrants could be housed in marquees on large sites across the country under plans being considered by the Home Office.
The proposal is in the early stages but being developed by officials, sources suggested last night. It is the latest accommodation plan being considered by the Government after others such as former military bases and barges.
Rishi Sunak said barges “will relieve pressure on local communities” and spaces in migrant hotels.
A Government spokesman said: “The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are more than 51,000 in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6million a day.
“We continue…to look at a range of accommodation options.”
The latest plans emerged as police chiefs admitted that many migrant children who go missing from Home Office hotels might never be found.
They said the details some initially gave to border officials were different from those they gave later, making it almost impossible to track them.
Detectives believe there is a window of only 72 hours to get enough information in case youths who arrive illegally vanish. Around 200 young migrants are known to have vanished from Home Office hotels.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council, in new guidance to forces, said some children flee hotels to find family already in the UK, to work in the black market to send money home, or to pay off smugglers.
The guidance says it is important to obtain “quality information” in initial encounters with youngsters to help find them if they vanish. This includes details of relatives, social media accounts and email addresses.
