Asylum barge is a heartless stunt

■ The first thought that entered my mind when I read our government wants to rehouse asylum seekers on barges was prison hulks.

These decommissioned wooden warships, first used to help the overcrowding of PoWs during the American war of independence, were still going strong in the Thames estuary and elsewhere when Charles Dickens wrote about them in Great Expectations in 1861.

I wonder if the announcement was timed to coincide with the new TV adaptation? Nothing surprises me anymore.

I know our Government has been infiltrated by empire nostalgists, but this shameful idea is really taking it too far.

It is a disgraceful way to treat some of the most desperate people on the planet. Robert Boston, Kingshill, Kent

■ What is our Government doing allowing asylum applications to stack up to a staggering 160,000? They have cut the staff and infrastructure required to fast track the asylum process and now they are in a blind panic trying to deal with the aftermath.

No surprise here as it fits the same kind of ideological cuts we’ve witnessed in the NHS, police, fire service and so on. The electorate have a right to trust their government to act responsibly, but that trust has been eroded and may never return.

The Tories have failed with the migrant crisis and all they have left are

gimmicky ideas such as housing asylum seekers on barges.

Collin Rossini, Dovercourt, Essex

■ What an inhumane way to treat traumatised people fleeing war and persecution – housing them on a massive floating barge off the coast of Dorset.

One can only imagine the dirty and cramped conditions on board and the resentment the asylum seekers will inevitably face from local residents who don’t want them there.

The truth is the Tories are out of ideas when it comes to solving the migrant crisis and are resorting to ever more desperate measures.

T Hughes, Cardiff

■ It is insane that the Tories are shelling out £10,000 a day for consultants to deal with the small boats crisis (Mirror, April 6). Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said the Government is out of ideas and he’s right.

Then there’s the barmy plan to house them on a barge in Dorset.

This inept Government is wasting money hand over fist and has no real solutions to offer. Dave Mellor, Warrington

■ Once again the Government is being disingenuous by claiming that asylum seekers in hotels are costing the country £6 million a day while not pointing out that the money is being taken out of the foreign aid budget.

They are robbing Peter to pay Paul and it doesn’t cost us a penny more than what was already allocated.

Ronnie Starkey, Norwich

■ What a typical local Tory response to the Home Secretary’s plan for housing refugees on a barge off the Dorset coast, ie “not in our backyard”.

It’s inhumane and lacks compassion. These people are human beings for heaven’s sake. Typical Tories, but you wouldn’t expect anything less, would you? Laurence C Blackburn, Norwich

■ Rishi Sunak is constantly telling us he’s the man to deliver for the great British people. In light of recent events surrounding the Port of Dover, he can genuinely claim success in his greatest ambition to date – to stop the boats crossing the Channel!

Colin Durkin, Bradford, West Yorks