Australian-style offshore asylum plan driven by No 10
The immigration points system is one thing, but the latest imported idea is far more controversial
When news of government plans to send migrants to Ascension Island broke in the Financial Times on Tuesday night, sources close to the home secretary, Priti Patel, were quick to distance her from the idea of building asylum seeker detention facilities on remote volcanic outcrops in the Atlantic Ocean. The home secretary would not want something like this," one ally insisted.
Government documents seen by the Guardian appear to lend credence to the idea that the home secretary is not behind the plan. It was Downing Street. Exactly who in No 10 is the driving force behind the idea of creating offshore detention facilities is not known. One Whitehall source said only it was officials in the office of the prime minister".
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