Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they carried out any analysis of the potential cost of moving and accommodating asylum seekers to Ascension Island; and if so, what those costs were.

The UK has a long and proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations. Tens of thousands of people have rebuilt their lives in the UK and we will continue to provide safe and legal routes for the vulnerable to do so in the future.

Meanwhile, we have seen unprecedented numbers of journeys to the UK by small boat in 2020, which are both dangerous and facilitated by criminals, and so we are determined to render these journeys unviable.

The Department has been developing plans to reform our illegal migration and asylum policies to ensure we are able to provide protection to those who need it whilst preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it. As part of this, we have explored likeminded states’ responses to similar situations in order to consider the various options that exist for deterring people from undertaking these dangerous journeys, exploring a range of options, including those that have been employed by other countries in similar situations. No decisions have been made by Ministers and we continue to work to find the right approach for the UK.