£15bn on hotels?

Maybe they should put them in Butlins - after a week they would be swimming back.

I see so the camp part is ok?

They didn't promise the earth at all. In fact, people were frustrated with their lack of commitment to policies pre-election. Keir Starmer was viewed by many not to have promised enough.

Not the 900 calorie starvation diet they are not

There has been mismanagement of the accommodation budget. IF cost is the issue then quicker processing, perhaps with temporary permission to work pending final decision for mugrants from those countries where 90%+ are given asylum, would solve the issue.

These stats? The ones that show the massive increase post-Brexit?

Do you remember a couple of years ago when migrants were housed in former barracks in Folkestone? Napier Barracks I believe it was. Basic, yes, but perfectly clean and serviceable. You might want to Google how that worked out.

The ones the military use….

You like Labour don’t you? They are proposing this.

Lots here suggesting voters will turn away from the two parties who've been in power for 15 years.

Yes, very likely.

But a hefty chunk will go to Greens and Libdems (plus national(ist) parties in Scotland and Wales). Will make predicting under first past the post system impossible.

Concentrate them together in camps?

Tg, the same question on this with each thread. I hope they read and take it in.

Pretty much this.

Pre-Brexit, much lighter customs checks. Easier to hide in lorries etc.

Post-Brexit, huge checks. No longer a viable way for the people smuggling gangs to move large numbers of people.

Hence small boat crossings.

https://www.womanandhome.com/life/what-i-wish-everyone-knew-about-living-with-a-disability/

😂 Are you serious? You actually think that someone left their country, potentially travelled through countries which were most definitely not safe, like Libya, evaded the authorities in various EU countries, got to Calais to be told that the UK is no longer in some random (and completely irrelevant to them) trade agreement with Europe, and you think their response will be ‘bugger, I was too late. Ok, I’ll claim asylum here instead’? Please tell me you’re joking and that’s not something you really believe?

We spent millions and millions of pounds moving Border staff to France, installing x Ray machines, improving technology and hiring more staff. It got harder and harder to get people to the UK via lorry and so the numbers of lorry arrivals started to drop and boat arrivals started to rise.

The COL crisis is rather larger than the UK and is a global consequence of a number of factors, most significantly the economic shockwaves of COVID and the ongoing war in Ukraine which has disrupted the wests oil supplies from Russia. There has been a global increase in the rate of inflation and interest.

It's sadly something which is beyond the abilities of any one government to fix.

Free healthcare - you get that too. The difference is that they can't make NI payments since they're not allowed to work.

Free food and accomodation - well yes they kind of have to get that since, again, they're not allowed to work.

Access to entertainment and amenities - again, we all have that too. They just have a max budget of £49 / week to spend on everything that isn't food / accommodation.

she said ‘just give him what he wants How exactly did she know what he wanted if he spoke no English, had no paperwork or documentation?

Well they’re making the right noises that the majority of the population seem to want.

Of course you bloody would. Being ploughed into a COL crisis by decades of incompetent governments is a disgrace and now we have another lot of idiots in charge. This lot seen to be the worst of all though as they are convinced they are the good guys 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. Lord help us.

Nonsense. Free healthcare, free food, free accommodation, access to entertainment and amenities. I queued up behind a refugee in a hospital recently and it was a debacle. Couldn’t speak English, didn’t have any paperwork at all, had no money, no documentation. When the pharmacist tried to make any traction at all he just stood there with his hand out and she said ‘just give him what he wants’. If that didn’t sum up this broken system I don’t know what did. The silence in the waiting room was palpable. People are absolutely sick of it.

Yes, they get repurposed because the owners aren't turning a decent enough profit serving tourists like they used to. COVID and the cost of living has really put the pinch on hotel owners and tourism more widely. If you're the owner of a failing beach hotel in the UK and you're offered a contract for tens of thousands a year with minimal input, you'd take it too.

Many hotels were repurposed away from customers because of the juicy government contracts. Just more rich people getting richer at the expense of the everyday person trying to afford to live. Disgusting.

Not quite - they're living in a building which used to be a four-star hotel. I assure you, you wouldn't consider it a four-star experience if you stayed there.

There are huge logistical challenges with using large, securely contained sites like barracks.

For one, we don't have lots of sites like that in a usable condition sitting, well, unused. To bring an abandoned complex up to scratch is a huge outlay. Secondly, they tend to be surprisingly low-density accommodation given the size of the site and are therefore not very efficient. Thirdly, it is logistically more costly to supply and maintain these sites and they are not always easy to access for e.g. court visits.

The use of hotels has arisen because these buildings are in good condition, provide a high density of accommodation, are usually in central areas where it's easy to supply catering, security, get the residents to court, doctors appts etc, and because there have been an awful lot of hotels closing in recent years these buildings are quite commonly available on the open market and are cheap for what they are.

A lot of then are now in coastal towns living in four star hotels, so I guess we have at least given them a beach view.