He did not want to say why he was voting against the government or if he was trying to cause trouble for the prime minister when the media asked him.
But when speaking to the media’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show this week, Jenrick said that Rishi Sunak decided to bring back the scheme in a way that probably won’t work because it was a political decision.
He said he quit his job on December 6 because he didn’t want to ask lawmakers to vote for a law that he thought was not strong enough.
The government has revealed that the interim residence for asylum seekers arriving on British soil will henceforth be a three-story barracks boat.
The Bibby Stockholm, a sizable apartment complex built atop a floating platform, has been leased for 18 months, according to the Home Office.
According to the Home Office, the “basic and functional accommodations” would have 24-hour security to “minimize the inconvenience to local populations.”
Bibby Stockholm contains a basic gym, bar, games room and more than 220 en-suite bedrooms, according to a fact sheet from owners Bibby Maritime.
New arrivals will start to be housed on the ship ‘in the coming months’, the Home Office added.
The deal was signed earlier today by the Home Office to charter the 91-metre ship docked in Portland Port, Dorset. The department has not yet set out of the cost of the agreement.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: ‘The Home Secretary and I have been clear that the use of expensive hotels to house those making unnecessary and dangerous journeys must stop.
‘We will not elevate the interests of illegal migrants over the British people we are elected to serve.
‘We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing – including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe.’
The Bibby Stockholm was once used by the Netherlands to house 500 asylum seekers in the 2000s.
During this time, a Dutch watchdog denounced the ‘oppressive environment’ people who fled war and persecution had to live in – it’s since been ‘refurbished’.
Bibby Marine said in a statement to Metro.co.uk: ‘Bibby Marine is a provider of practical, safe, and comfortable accommodation solutions for a wide range of clients across the globe.
‘Due to legal agreements, we cannot provide any details on individual charter agreements.
‘Our floating accommodation barges offer a cost-effective solution for those in need of good quality accommodation. All have been refurbished to a high standard, catering to the safety and comfort of residents.’
‘The Bibby Stockholm has been refurbished and has comfortably housed workers from various industries including construction, marine and the armed forces over the years,’ the company added.
It will be the first vessel used in deeply controversial plans to reduce hotels used to house asylum seekers.
Barges normally used for offshore construction projects, disused cruise ships and military bases are among the sites Home Office officials are considering.
The plans have been denounced by international rights organisations, refugee advocacy groups and politicians on both sides.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, told Metro.co.uk: ‘A barge may make headlines, but it’s a completely inadequate housing option for vulnerable people who have come to our country in search of safety having fled beatings and death threats in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran.
‘They should have access to safe and appropriate accommodation including having proper physical and mental health support, access to education and community links.
‘A floating barge does not provide what they need nor the respect, dignity and support they deserve.’
Solomon added that there would be ‘no need’ for the barracks ship if the Home Office handled the spiralling claims backlogs.
The Tory MP for South Dover, where the Bibbly Stockholm will be moored, has threatened legal action over the floatel.
Richard Drax, known for backing anti-immigration policies, said the barge was ‘dumped on the door’ without the Home Office consulting him.
‘With 500 migrants or more dumped here, I cannot see this is a sensible move, so for those reasons and many others I reject it,’ he said.
‘We already know some migrants have disappeared from hotels, we fear some into gangs. Are they going to stay here?’
Hotels housing asylum seekers have been the site of vandalism and violence in recent months as far-right groups stage often fiery protests in front of them.
While an investigation in January revealed how dozens of asylum seekers have been reportedly kidnapped by gangs.
Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, told Metro.co.uk: ‘We’re shocked to hear the Government’s proposals to house people fleeing persecution in dehumanising and potentially dangerous accommodation such as barges.
‘It shows a clear disregard for the well-being of people it should be protecting.
‘We have been speaking to people in Home Office accommodation and it is evident the Government’s increasingly hostile policies are exacerbating stress and fear. In particular, uncertainty around housing is one of the leading causes of anxiety for them.’
Refugee groups have spent years raising the alarm over the use of hotels and other temporary accomodations for asylum seekers.
Amid a claims backlog, families have spent months or even a year in temporary accommodation, according to a report by Refugee Council.
These months-long stays can take a deep toll on the mental health of asylum seekers, the campaign group warned.
Asylum seekers have described to Metro.co.uk being housed for months in far-flung hotels, living on an allowance that barely covers the costs of bus passes, phone bills and clothing amid the cost-of-living crisis.
‘It is clear that people fleeing human rights abuses,’ Qureshi added, ‘are now having their rights abused here too.’
Robert Jenrick, the minister of immigration, has been prohibited from driving for the ensuing six months after exceeding the speed limit by about 30 mph.
At a court hearing on Tuesday, Mr. Jenrick was also assessed a total fine of £1,639 pounds.
He previously acknowledged doing 68 mph in a temporary 40 mph zone on the southbound M1 on August 5 of last year between junctions 18 and 17.
The case was dealt with through a Single Justice Procedure at Northampton Magistrates’ Court, which allows a magistrate to rule on criminal cases seen as minor in a closed court, meaning the public and press cannot attend.
Mr Jenrick was fined £1,107 after being caught speeding (Picture: PA)
They also allow defendants to plead guilty or not guilty in writing which meant that Mr Jenrick, 41, did not have to attend court in person.
Mr Jenrick has been approached for comment.
The MP for Newark, in Nottinghamshire, was travelling after an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions at Wakefield Cathedral when he was caught by a speed camera in his Land Rover at around 11.30pm on August 5, the London Evening Standard reported.
The Evening Standard had previously said Mr Jenrick was fined £307 and handed three penalty points in March, for speeding on the A40 in west London in August 2021.
He was fined £1,107, and ordered to pay a £442 victim surcharge and £90 in costs.
Former military bases will shelter “several thousand” asylum seekers, according to proposals confirmed by immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
The refugee population will live at bases in Essex and Lincolnshire as well as another location in East Sussex.
It follows the controversial plans, which are still expected to be reviewed by Ministers, to shelter asylum seekers in abandoned cruise ships and “barges.”
RAF Scampton, home of the Dambusters during the Second World War, in Lincolnshire will be used, alongside with MDP Wethersfield in Braintree.
RAF Scampton is set to be one of the sites to house thousands of refugees (Picture: PA)Robert Jenrick made the announcement in the Commons today (Picture: BBC)
Government sources said each site will have the capacity to house 1,500-2,000 migrants, and initially are more likely to be used for new arrivals rather than to rehouse people currently in hotels.
It comes as the UK says it is spending £6.2m a day on hotels for asylum seekers, housing more than 51,000 people at 400 hotels across the country.
Robert Jenrick said: ‘Today the Government is announcing the first tranche of sites we will set up to provide basic accommodation at scale.
‘The Government will use military sites being disposed of in Essex and Lincolnshire, and a separate site in East Sussex.
‘These will be scaled up over the coming months and will collectively provide accommodation to several thousands asylum seekers through repurposed barrack blocks and portacabins.’
The immigration minister insisted that ‘these sites on their own will not end the use of hotels overnight’.
He added: ‘But alongside local dispersal and other forms of accommodation, which we will bring forward in due course, they will relieve pressure on our communities and they will manage asylum seekers in a more appropriate and cost-effective way.’
Mr Jenrick also sought to provide MPs with assurances about the sites’ impact on local services, saying: ‘We are acutely aware of the need to minimise the impact of these sites on communities.
‘Basic healthcare will be available, around-the-clock security will be provided on site, and our providers will work closely with local police and other partners. Funding will be provided to local authorities in which these sites are located.’
Speaking about the possibility of ‘accommodating migrants in vessels’ Mr Jenrick said the government was still considering the option.
The immigration minister said: ‘In addition, the Prime Minister is showing leadership on this issue by bringing forward proposals to provide accommodation at barracks in Catterick Garrison in his constituency.
‘And we are continuing to explore the possibility of accommodating migrants in vessels, as they are in Scotland and in the Netherlands.’
SNP home affairs spokesperson Alison Thewliss could be heard to shout ‘It is not the same!’
Some residents near RAF Scampton have already raised concerns about the housing of Migrants.
Residents said they ‘don’t feel secure’ and feel they are ‘nothing’ to the Government.
Homeowners who live in former military housing, say they have received ‘absolutely jack-sh**’ by way of communication from the Government about its plans to house migrants on the site.
Around 700 people already live in homes bordering RAF Scampton, which was previously home to the Red Arrows and the Dambusters 617 squadron in the Second World War, and they said on Wednesday they worry their limited local amenities will be overwhelmed if the plans go ahead.
Speaking prior to the expected announcement on Wednesday, Rachel Green, a resident on the site for 22 years, said: ‘My main concern is security. We’ve got a lot of young families here with lots of children about.
‘The fence is not secure, and even if the fence was secure, it is said they’ll be able to roam free and this is where they’ll come because it’s 100 yards out of the front entrance from the camp to the housing estate. We don’t feel secure.’
Sir Edward Leigh and Karl McCartney, MPs for Gainsborough and Lincoln respectively, have both previously voiced opposition to the plans, which have been described as ‘grossly inadequate’ by refugee charities.
There are also concerns that the site is unsuitable for a sudden influx of new arrivals, with the base situated next to a busy carriageway, the A15, and being cut off from public transport other than a limited bus service.
Lyn Webb, another resident, said the Government are ‘not bothered’ about local residents, who have had to organise community groups and petitions to raise their concerns.
She said: ‘We’ve heard absolutely jack-shit.
‘We’ve had no communication whatsoever. Nothing from the Home Office, nothing from any MPs, even (Sir) Edward Leigh.
‘None of them want come and see where we live. None of them want to come and see how close it’s going to be, they just want to look at pictures, they’re really not bothered, we’re a nothing.
‘It makes me feel awful. A lot of us have been here for over 20 years in a safe, secure environment, and all of a sudden that is going to be taken away.’
The number of migrants to be housed at the site, and the type of accommodation in which they will be contained, has not yet been confirmed.
Samantha Taylor-Eggleson, a resident on the site for 23 years who has raised four children next to the base, said: ‘I’ve now got a seven-year-old as well and he won’t be allowed out if this goes ahead. I am extremely worried.
‘Nearly 2,000 men will be here and not all of them are going to be saints. They’re going to be bored. They’re going to be hot in the summer and they’re going to be frozen in the winter.
‘We have an extremely small shop and a diabolical bus service.
‘There is nothing for them here at all, and we will feel the brunt of it because we are a six-foot fence away.’
It is anticipated that an announcement would be made today on the housing of refugees aboard abandoned cruise ships and military camps.
Later today, the controversial options to hosting asylum seekers in hotels around the UK are expected to be announced by the ministers.
Former military facilities like RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, which served as the Dambusters’ base of operations during World War II, are among the potential locations the Home Office is considering.
Government sources told the BBC each site will have the capacity to house 1,500-2,000 migrants, and initially are more likely to be used for new arrivals rather than to rehouse people currently in hotels.
Raab: We’ll look at barges for housing migrants
Home Secretary Suella Braverman previously said the government was looking at a number of alternative sites (Picture: AP)
Raab: We’ll look at barges for housing migrants
Other possibilities include using vessels such as a former cruise ship from Indonesia, which would be moored in south-west England.
It comes as the UK says it is spending £6.2m a day on hotels for asylum seekers, housing more than 51,000 people at 400 hotels across the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said vessels will be used to house asylum seekers where they can be ‘safely and responsibly’ utilised.
He told BBC Breakfast there is a ‘huge cost to the taxpayer’ of hotel use and this is ‘deeply frustrating’ to many, while acting as a ‘pull factor’.
He said: ‘We will look at the whole range of options, low-cost accommodation, ex-Army barracks and, where it’s appropriate, as has been used elsewhere in Europe, and I think in Scotland as well, vessels if they can safely and responsibly be used,’ he said.
‘The immigration minister will set out these proposals in detail in the House of Commons later today.’
Mr Jenrick is expected to make the announcement later today, however plans to house people in ex-military bases has already been criticised by Tory MPs.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has slammed plans to possibly house asylum seekers at MDP Wethersfield, in his Essex constituency of Braintree.
Mr Cleverly said the site was ‘inappropriate’ because it was remote and had limited transport infrastructure.
The government is also thought to disclose plans to make use of a clause in the levelling up bill to force councils to accept large-scale accommodation for those seeking asylum.
Regarding RAF Scampton, Sir Edward Leigh, the Tory MP for the area, has previously criticised the choice.
A deal had been agreed in March to allow West Lindsey District Council to purchase the base from the Ministry of Defence as part of a £300m regeneration project of the site for commercial activity, heritage, tourism and research.
The government is also said to be considering using a ‘giant barge’ capable of holding hundreds of people, according to the Times with a government source telling the paper it would have a ‘deterrent effect’ on people arriving in small boats.
Disused cruise ships, empty holiday parks and former student halls have also under consideration as alternatives to hotels.
The barges are built to house hundreds of people, although a government source told the Times that plans were at an ‘early stage’ and had significant practical issues that needed to be addressed.
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, is expected to announce alternatives to hotel accommodation as soon as this week.
Rishi Sunak told his Cabinet on Tuesday that the cost of using hotels and the pressure it puts on local areas meant it was not sustainable.
The Prime Minister later told MPs that children cannot be exempted from plans to detain people who cross the Channel in small boats to prevent the creation of a ‘pull factor’.
Appearing before the Commons Liaison Committee, he also downplayed suggestions that flights under the Government’s stalled Rwanda policy would begin this summer.
The ships would be moored off the coast, emulating an approach by the Scottish government, which housed Ukrainian refugees in two 700-cabin ships. They were docked in Glasgow and Edinburgh and could hold 1,750 people each.
Braverman said she would not rule out the use of former cruise ships when questioned in December by a House of Lords committee.
She said: ‘We will bring forward a range of alternative sites, they will include disused holiday parks, former student halls – I should say we are looking at those sites – I wouldn’t say anything is confirmed yet.
‘But we need to bring forward thousands of places, and when you talk about vessels all I can say is – because we are in discussion with a wide variety of providers – that everything is still on the table and nothing is excluded,’ she said.
A government spokesperson said: ‘We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being placed on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country.
‘We continue to work across government and with local authorities to identify a range of accommodation options. The government remains committed to engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders as part of this process.’
Ahmed – not his real name – said people at the Manston processing centre were treated like “animals” with 130 people forced to share a single large tent.
Over 4,000 migrants have reportedly been held at the camp – meant to host just 1,600 – in recent days.
But Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has insisted numbers are coming down.
Ahmed – who left the centre on Monday after 24 days there – described being forced to sleep on the floor, and being prevented from going to the toilet, taking a shower or going outside for exercise.
He also said people were prevented from calling their families to let them know they had made the crossing to the UK safely.
“For the 24 days I’m in there, I can’t call to my family to say to them I’m dead, I’m living – they don’t know anything about me,” he said.
“All people in there, they have a family. They should know what is happening to us.”
Manston, a former military base in Kent, opened as a processing centre in February for the growing number of migrants reaching the UK in small boats. Migrants are meant to be held there for short periods of time while undergoing security and identity checks.
They are then supposed to be moved into the Home Office’s asylum accommodation system, which often means a hotel due to a shortage of available accommodation.
But Manston became even more crowded at the weekend when 700 migrants were sent there from another centre in Dover, which was firebombed.
Several hundred asylum seekers were relocated from the Manston centre on Tuesday, according to local Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale.
More will leave throughout the week he said, tweeting: “This must never be allowed to happen again.”
Mr Jenrick tweeted on Tuesday that the numbers of migrants held at the centre had “fallen substantially”.
“Unless we receive an unexpectedly high number of migrants in small boats in the coming days, numbers will fall significantly this week,” he said. “It’s imperative that the site returns a sustainable operating model and we are doing everything we can to ensure that happens swiftly.”
But the British Red Cross said “the serious problems at Manston are indicative of the wider issues facing the asylum system”.
A huge number of migrants have arrived in the UK this year. So far this year, there have been almost 40,000 arrivals in Kent – with nearly 1,000 crossing the Channel on Saturday alone.
Separately, the BBC received photos of unaccompanied children being forced to sleep on the floor at another unnamed Home Office facility in Kent.
The pictures show a sparsely decorated room, with just a few books and a box of Scrabble as entertainment to help pass the time in the facility.
Image caption, Migrants rest at an unnamed Home Office facility in Kent
Image caption, In pictures sent to the BBC, the walls in the facility are covered in writing
Writing in different languages is seen scrawled on the walls above a row of plastic chairs, fixed to the floor. The BBC understands the facility is used to process unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
The government has come under huge pressure to tackle the rise in small boat crossings and to speed up the processing of migrants already in the UK.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been accused by opposition parties of ignoring legal advice that said she had to source additional hotel accommodation to prevent overcrowding at the centre.
Ms Braverman rejected the accusations.
The home secretary was also accused of using inflammatory language, after saying southern England was facing an “invasion” of migrants during a heated House of Commons session.
The Refugee Council said her language was “appalling, wrong and dangerous”. Her immigration minister Mr Jenrick later said politicians must be careful with their language around migration issues.
And the prime minister’s official spokesman said Rishi Sunak told his cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday that the UK would “always be a compassionate, welcoming country”.
Meanwhile, counter-terror police have taken over the investigation into an attack the firebombing of an immigration processing centre in Dover in Kent on Sunday.
Detectives have said Andrew Leak, 66, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, likely carried out the attack in “some form of hate-filled grievance” before killing himself.
