Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Britain could soon house asylum seekers in camp with no mains power or running water

UP TO 500 refugees could be housed  in a Hampshire camp with no mains power or running water, according to former immigration minister Caroline Nokes.

The Tory MP grilled Home Office minister Chris Philp in the Commons yesterday over proposed changes to asylum law, which she said could have “far-reaching consequences” if they come into force in January. 

New rules, published quietly last week, will prevent people from claiming asylum in Britain if they have passed through or have a connection with a “safe” third country.

 
In response to today’s debate Refugee Action chief executive Stephen Hale said: “This government wants to pull the rug out from under our international obligation to support people fleeing violence and persecution.
 
“Their plans do not fix the asylum system. They won’t stop people risking their lives to reach our shores, or make certain decisions on claims are right first time, solve the housing crisis or alleviate suffering.
 
“Instead they take away the human right to claim asylum from people who have had to battle against the odds to make it to the UK, and have had to do so because there are so few safe and legal routes to get here.”
 
Mr Hale urged Home Office ministers to rethink the rule changes. 
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
POLICING THE POLICE: GLC leader Ken Livingstone (centre), wi
Features / 10 March 2023
10 March 2023
In an exclusive investigation, BETHANY RIELLY looks at how the state targeted leading politicians and campaigning groups — labelling many well-known figures 'extremists' and 'subversives' for attempting to hold the police to account
Eritrean female soldiers
Features / 12 December 2022
12 December 2022
On September 4, 16 Eritrean asylum-seekers were arrested at a protest against their country’s dictatorship and its supporters here. Since then, questions have been raised about whether the British authorities are doing enough to protect activists and asylum-seekers from the ‘long arm’ of the regime in Asmara
Similar stories
Lord Alf Dubs on stage addressing the crowd during a rally in Parliament Square, London, after taking part in the Refugees Welcome March, September 2016
Features / 6 May 2025
6 May 2025

A recent Immigration Summit heard from Lord Alf Dubs, who fled the Nazis to Britain as a child. JAYDEE SEAFORTH reports on his message that we need to increase public empathy with desperate people seeking asylum

A view of HMP Northeye in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, March
Britain / 5 February 2025
5 February 2025
MPs condemn Home Office after it wasted £15.4m on derelict prison to house asylum seekers
A view of HMP Northeye in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, which
Britain / 15 November 2024
15 November 2024
Government urged to put ‘clear distance between it and the cruel, wasteful camps policy held by the previous one’