Suella Braverman reportedly buys tents to house 2,000 migrants at former military sites

The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has purchased tents to accommodate up to 2,000 asylum seekers in the event of a surge in small boat crossings, it has been reported.

The marquees, said to have been purchased in recent days, would be placed on disused military sites as part of plans to avoid hotel use by migrants.

Ms Braverman is working on contingency plans to erect the tents in the coming weeks with a surge of boats expected, the PA news agency reported.

The Times, which first reported the tent purchases, cited Government sources saying a similar proposal was rejected last year because of warnings it would trigger legal challenges based on inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.

The newspaper was told some in government had even compared it to concentration camps.

Home Office sources told the Times there was “nothing wrong” with using tents to house migrants and said other European countries including Ireland did so.

Last year the government erected several marquees at the Manston processing centre in Kent, which suffered from dangerous overcrowding.

More than 14,000 people have made unauthorised crossings this year, adding pressure to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has promised to “stop the boats”.

Separately, it is understood that a small number of positive results for tuberculosis have been detected at the former RAF site at Wethersfield in Braintree, Essex. Tests are under way to see if the cases are active.

The Home Office also expects to send an initial 50 people to the UK’s first floating barge for asylum seekers on Tuesday despite safety concerns and local opposition.

A Government source confirmed details of the first arrivals at the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, and numbers are due to rise gradually over coming months.

The floating facility will host around 500 men at a time under Government efforts to reduce the use of hotels to house people awaiting the results of asylum claims.

Refugee charities said the use of barges and former military bases to house asylum seekers 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 their constituencies will be impacted.