The government likes to talk tough over Channel crossings – but all we have seen are ridiculous proposals

As the latest leak reveals ministers explored potentially using sonic weapons to deter asylum seekers, May Bulman asks why such proposals to tackle the issue keep appearing

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, by the RNLI (PA Wire)

When reports came out at the end of September 2020 that Priti Patel was considering building an asylum processing centre on the remote overseas territory of Ascension Island, it came as a surprise to many and dominated the headlines.

When, days later, more leaks revealed plans to build immigration centres on disused ferries, processing asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea and using wave machines to push dinghies back to the French coast, as well as “floating walls” in the Channel, they were again high on the news agenda.

Was this Priti Patel’s big – albeit arguably inhumane – plan to curb the surge in small boat crossings starting to come together?