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Migrant centres must be ready for 14,000 a year, ministers told

Young children were among the migrant arrivals in Dover yesterday
Young children were among the migrant arrivals in Dover yesterday
STEVE FINN

The Home Office will have to build enough reception centres to hold 14,000 migrants a year under Priti Patel’s plans to reduce spending on hotels, according to a charity’s analysis.

The home secretary’s overhaul of the asylum system will classify about 60 per cent of arrivals as “inadmissible” and priority for removal because they travelled through a safe country such as France before arriving in the UK. At the same time, the Home Office proposes to cut the cost of housing asylum seekers by moving them from hotels to converted or purpose-built reception centres while applications are handled.

According to a Refugee Council analysis of Home Office figures, this means that the government will need to find space for 14,000 of the 28,000 migrants arriving