UK sending people to Ascension Island in small boats

Plans to send people who enter the UK on small boats to a volcanic island in the south Atlantic are being considered in Whitehall, a government minister has confirmed.

On Monday, the Home Office minister Sarah Dines said the proposal to send people to Ascension Island could replace the government’s plan to deport people to Rwanda, should that policy fail.

“We are pretty confident that Rwanda is a legal policy. The high court and the lord chief justice found that it was, so that is what we are focusing on. But, like any responsible government, we look at additional measures. So we are looking at everything to make sure our policy works,” she told Times Radio.

While the high court did rule the policy was legal, the court of appeal has since ruled it is not. The government has indicated it will seek a final decision in the supreme court – the highest in the country.

Sarah Dines said “times change” and that the small boats crisis had become “urgent” when asked why the Ascension Island plan was reportedly being reconsidered after seemingly being rejected by Boris Johnson’s former government.

Proposals to use the volcanic island in the South Atlantic for processing people who arrive in the UK by unauthorised means are apparently being considered by ministers and officials as a “plan B” if the Rwanda scheme fails.

The plans to send asylum seekers to Kigali have been stalled by legal challenges that will end up in the Supreme Court.

Safeguarding minister Ms Dines said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman remain “committed” to the Rwanda agreement but said other measures were under consideration.

Ascension Island became known to the British public during the Falklands War, when it was used as a strategic military base. The RAF continues to operate on the island in support of the Falklands garrison.

It has an area of 88 square km, with much of the island dominated by a volcano in its middle.

Approximately 800 people live on the island at any of time, according to its official website, but none of its inhabitants are indigenous.

Reports suggest that the island will only be used as a holding centre until a migrant’s asylum application is adjudicated back in the UK, and that applicants will come back to Britain for settlement if their applications are successful. It is unclear where those rejected will end up. The deterrent effect of being transported 4,000 miles from Kent to the mid-Atlantic will be much less pronounced with the prospect of permanent settlement in the UK – expressly ruled out under the Rwanda plan – still in the mix.

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Sarah H

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