How Nightingale asylum centres would work – and could they slash the backlog? ...Middle East

Labour has been urged to create “Nightingale” asylum centres in a push to end migrants being housed in hotels.

The Liberal Democrats have proposed the temporary, “emergency” processing centres to bring down the backlog in asylum claims and close hotels within six months.

Wartime powers should be used to set up sites along similar lines to the Nightingale hospitals and courts created during the Covid crisis, say the Lib Dems.

Nightingale courts and hospitals were temporary facilities used during the pandemic to deal with the sheer number of cases and in terms of the judiciary, attempt to clear the backlog when existing courts faced restrictions.

Sir Ed Davey’s party – holding its annual conference in Bournemouth this week – also wants to end the ban on asylum seekers working in the UK by replicating

Lib Dems have suggested many of the new arrivals could be picking crops or staffing hotels, bars and restaurants.

Labour is under pressure to fulfil its promises to clear the huge backlog in asylum claims left by the previous Conservative Government.

The current number pending asylum claims stands at 70,500 drown from 85,000 in June 2024.

Labour has promised to close asylum hotels by 2029 but Starmer is under pressure to go faster, as protests continue across the country.

The number of asylum seekers staying in hotels has crept up slightly – from 29,000 to 32,000 – since Labour’s general election victory.

On 20 September, over 1,000 people crossed the English Channel taking the overall total to 32,103, a record for this point in the year.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey wants ‘humanity’ in the asylum system (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

How would ‘Nightingale’ centres work?

The Lib Dems’ plan would see the set-up of emergency centres – staffed by new case workers – to speed up the processing of asylum claims.

The Lib Dems want to boost asylum case workers from 2,000 to 4,000 in bid to “process those applications far more quickly”.

These migrants would either get refugee status to live in the UK, or face deportation. Davey claims his plan would close hotels within six months and “restore some humanity” to the system.

They say the Government could call a national emergency and use wartime-powers under the Civil Contingencies Act to sanction the centres and provide extra funding.

But the Lib Dems have not estimated how much the plan would cost.

The party’s home affairs spokeswoman Lisa Smart said only that it would “cost money in the short term” but would “save billions in the long term”.

There are also question marks over how quickly people could be trained to work on asylum claims. New case workers could be trained “within weeks”, said Smart.

Unions representing Home Office staff are unlikely to agree, considering the complexity of asylum claims and the risk of opening the Government up to lengthy appeals in the tribunal courts.

Refugee support charities told The i Paper that there was a danger in Nightingale site staff “rushing” asylum claims, leading to more flawed decisions.

“It’s another knee-jerk reaction and we’ve had a lot of those from all parties,” said Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, on the Lib Dem plan.

“There is a danger of making ever more mistakes by trying to rush decisions. More flawed decisions would mean more appeals, clogging up the court system.”

Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at Refugee Council, also warned that any move to “quickly decide” cases would have to ensure decisions are “right the first time”.

Otherwise, more migrants will get stuck in the time-consuming appeals system.

The Refugee Council has proposed a “one-off targeted scheme” to grant asylum to everyone from countries where asylum applications typically succeed, such as Sudan and Afghanistan.

Caption: Fruit pickers at a farm in Egerton (Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

What’s the plan to let asylum seekers work?

The Lib Dems also want to end the ban which prevents asylum seekers from working while they await their claim.

Marie Goldman, Lib Dem MP for Chelmsford, said it could help fill Britain’s workforce gaps. “We need more people in our hospitality industry and people picking our crops, for example,” she told GB News.

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Letting asylum seekers work was a “good idea”, said Care4Calais. It would allow some new arrivals earn enough to pay for own accommodation and help them “integrate properly into society”, said the charity.

The Refugee Council said asylum seekers were “desperate to use their skills” and “pay their way” in the UK.

Davey said Reform UK and Nigel Farage were “not offering real solutions” to the small boats crisis.

The Lib Dem leader also branded Elon Musk a “criminal”. The party has called for MPs to question the tech mogul over his “fight back” or “die” comments at an anti-asylum rally led by far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

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