The British government announced on Tuesday August 9 that it had abandoned its project for a large center for asylum seekers in a former air force base in the north of England, a key element of its plan against illegal immigration. .
In April, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a series of measures intended to curb illegal crossings of the Channel, which are constantly increasing: deportations of migrants to Rwanda, transfer of control of the sea to the Navy and construction of large dedicated centers asylum seekers inspired by those existing in Greece.
For this latest project, a former air force base located in Linton-on-Ouse, a small village in Yorkshire, in the north of England, was to be converted to accommodate 1,500 people, in order to replace the resort to hotels.
“
I have withdrawn the offer made to the Ministry of the Interior to use this site
,” Defense Minister Ben Wallace said on Tuesday, explaining that he needed the premises “
for something else .
and ensuring that other places could be used.
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The project had encountered strong opposition from local residents, worried about the effect of such an influx of people in a small isolated village, with very little public transport.
The other major promise of the government in terms of immigration, the deportation of migrants to Rwanda, has still not been implemented, a first flight scheduled for June having been canceled at the last moment after the intervention of European justice .
The two candidates to succeed Boris Johnson, who resigned, however, both promised to implement this project.
Since the announcement of this project in April, more than 13,000 migrants have made the very dangerous crossing of the Channel on small boats, according to the count of the PA agency, a total of more than 18,000 since the start of the year.
This portends another record year despite promises from Britain's Conservative government since Brexit.