![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/newspaper-headlines-plan-b-on-rwanda-as-mps-defy-second-jobs-anger/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/130673557_indexpic-nc.png&description=Image caption, The reports that Labour will use barges to house asylum seekers temporarily if it wins the next general election. According to the paper, shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock says his party would "have to continue in a very short-term period to use the infrastructure that is there" due to "the complete and utter chaos and shambles of the Tory asylum crisis". The government's decision to house migrants on barges has sparked a lot of controversy, with some human rights groups calling it inhumane. Image caption, The reports that government ministers are "drawing up proposals" to send asylum seekers arriving in the UK via the Channel to Ascension Island - a British overseas territory 4,000 miles away in the South Atlantic - if their plan to send some people to Rwanda falls through. Image caption, The also reports that the government has alternative plans if the Rwanda policy "fails". In its lead, the paper says ministers are assessing alternative options "to tackle the small-boats crisis" and Ascension Island is one of them. The small volcanic island was previously considered as a location to process asylum seekers, the paper reports, adding that ministers believed its remote location would "create a strong deterrent for those planning to cross the Channel in small boats". Image caption, Meanwhile, the reports that landlords and bosses who "help migrants live and work in the UK will be hit in a crackdown" and face fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker and £20,000 per tenant. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is quoted as saying that "making it harder for illegal migrants to work and operate in the UK is vital to deterring dangerous, unnecessary boat crossings". Image caption, The also leads on fines for bosses employing people who have arrived in the UK illegally. It says the "drastically increased fines aim to tackle the UK's image as being soft on immigration". A source told the paper these measures would make it "completely economically un){kind=link}
“Remote island plan for Channel migrants” is the headline of the Daily Mail’s splash. It says the government is drawing up proposals to fly asylum seekers to Ascension Island, a small British overseas territory in the South Atlantic, if its Rwanda policy fails.
The Times reports that ministers are also in negotiations with five other countries as part of contingency plans, which the paper understands would involve sending asylum seekers away on a one-way flight, rather than moving them to another country temporarily.
It is a warning to bosses who hire illegal migrants that leads the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph. Repeat offenders could face fines of up to £60,000 per employee and landlords housing migrants illegally could be fined up to £20,000 per tenant. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, denounces those he says are “enabling the business model of the people smugglers” and insists it is “only right” that fines should be “prohibitively expensive”.
The i reports that scientists at Porton Down are preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic in humans. The paper says vaccines against the H5N1 strain, which has killed millions of birds since 2021, are at an advanced stage of development. Experts tell the newspaper they are already carrying out surveillance of the virus in poultry workers and are confident of a “slick and rapid response” if a new virus were to emerge.
“From Lab to Jab in 100 days” says the Times, as the paper reports Britain is working towards deploying vaccines within three months of a virus being detected.