Front pages dominated by asylum barge controversies
Tuesday’s front pages focused on renewed asylum issues, as the government launched a specialist taskforce dedicated to clamping down on lawyers helping migrants with false claims – while lawyers in defence of migrants argue the vessel is unsafe.
On Monday, the first group of asylum seekers in the UK boarded a barge docked in Dorset, where they will await the outcome of their asylum application. At the time of writing, 15 people boarded the vessel, though 20 refused. The government responded that those who refuse to move could lose state-funded housing assistance. The government also says it expects that almost 500 people will be aboard the vessel by the end of the week. The barge has raised concerns around health and safety. Some human rights groups have also called the barge scheme “inhumane”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the threat to withdraw Home Office housing support was “unlikely” to be illegal, but “all cases are considered on their facts”.
The Conservative party has long pushed for a stronger migrant policy that will help reduce the number of asylum seekers in the UK and reduce the Home Office backlog, but its increasingly questionable approaches have led many to accuse the government of disastrous management and heartless policies that border on illegal. Of course, the right-leaning publications remain as angry about immigration as ever, and with the barge commencing operation, have made that abundantly clear.
Unless otherwise linked, headlines are front-page print stories for August 8, 2023.
Not all aboard: Just 15 asylum seekers arrive after legal challenges
Metro
Tory fury as lawyers block migrants on barge
Daily Express
Reprieve for asylum seekers ordered onto barge
The Guardian
Asylum seekers claim ‘fear of water’ to block move to barge
Daily Telegraph
- intentionally misconstrued to stoke mockery: some asylum seekers have lodged appeals for an array of reasons, including disability, and trauma from torture – and some are psychologically traumatised after seeing friends or family drown at sea, which is the basis for their fear of returning to any water-based craft
Professional migration cheats risk life in jail
The Times
Suella: I’ll wage war on crooked migration lawyers
Daily Mail
Tory Immigration Chaos: CLUELESS
- 15 asylum seekers on barge but dozens reprieved as lawyers argue vessel unsafe
- Government axe crackers plan to fly people 4,000 miles to Ascension Island
- 50,000 in hotels … 10,000 more than when PM pledged to end use in December
Mirror
