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A Whitehall brainstorming session led by Priti Patel led to the idea of sending asylum seekers to a volcanic island in the South Atlantic, the Guardian understands.
The Financial Times reported that the Home Secretary had asked officials to investigate the idea of prosecuting asylum seekers on Ascension Island, an isolated British volcanic territory, and on St Helena, which is part of the same island group but 800 miles away.
However, according to Interior Ministry sources, the proposal only came about after Patel sought advice on how other countries handle asylum claims. Australia, for example, keeps them on overseas islands while it processes claims.
The source said that Patel asked the Foreign Ministry for ideas, and among those raised were “implausible” such as the use of Ascension or St Helena.
Patel is expected to address the issue of Canal crossings by migrants in a speech to the Conservative party conference on Sunday, and has repeatedly vowed to detain those arriving in the country by boat.
He has asked the Royal Navy to help cope with the growing number of small vessels and has appointed a former Royal Marine, Dan O’Mahoney, to the role of “Channel Underground Threat Commander.”
In August, he said the number of crossings was “terrible and unacceptably high”, adding: “I am working to make this route unviable.”
The UK is grappling with record levels of cross-Channel arrivals and, according to PA Media’s analysis, nearly 7,000 people have landed in the UK on small boats this year.
New plans drawn up by the Home Office show that people could be housed in a detention center criticized for inhumane conditions, and Conservative MPs in Kent have raised concerns about the migrants’ accommodation in nearby hotels and army barracks.
Ascension Island, which has a population of less than 1,000, is home to a Royal Air Force station and was used extensively as a staging point by the British Army during the 1982 Falklands conflict.
Saint Helena is also one of the most isolated islands in the world, lying 1,210 miles off the west coast of Africa.
It is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascensión and Tristán da Cunha.
A Home Office source said: “The UK has a long and proud history of offering shelter to those in need of protection. Tens of thousands of people have rebuilt their lives in the UK and we will continue to provide safe and legal routes in the future.
“As the ministers have said, we are developing plans to reform policies and laws on illegal migration and asylum to ensure that we can provide protection to those in need, while preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow Home Secretary, said: “This ridiculous idea is inhumane, completely impractical and outrageously expensive. So it seems totally plausible that this conservative government came up with it. “
