‘RAF want nothing to do’ with plan to send migrants to Ascension island

Ascension Island is a possible place asylum seekers may be processed (Image: Getty) The Royal Air Force would refuse minister demands to send Channel migrants to Ascension Island in the Atlantic, if they were being sent their to be processed, it was claimed today. The desolate island, 4,000 miles from Britain, could be the site ministers decide to use to process asylum applications. Despite the plan first being mooted three years ago before being scrapped, Tories are once more considering the feasibility of using the remote rock in the middle of the sea to get round the issue of where to house the asylum seekers. An RAF source told The Times that irrespective of what minister decide, pilots would not be flying migrants to the British Overseas Territory. The population of the island is slightly over 1,000 people and is home to an RAF base, used as a staging post to supply and defend the Falkland Islands. The Bibby Stockholm barge can hold 500 people (Image: Getty) The only way to get to Ascension is via a RAF flight from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. A government source warned: ‘The RAF will want nothing to do with it.’ The RAF source told The Times: ‘The Home Office normally charters private planes because we are quite expensive.’ They added: ‘We also have other priorities, such as Ukraine .’ The plot to relocate asylum seekers to the outpost in the Atlantic comes as judges preside over the legal challenge to the Government’s Rwanda policy. Lee Anderson has said illegal migrants should ‘f*** off’ to France if they don’t like barges (Image: Getty) Home Office minister Sarah Dines said ‘times change’ when the re-emergence of the Ascension plan became clear. Despite being rejected by the Johnson government, Ms Dines told Sky News: ‘Well, times change, we look at all possibilities. ‘This crisis in the Channel is urgent, we need to look at all possibilities and that is what we are doing. ‘We are determined to make sure there isn’t the pull factor for illegal migrants to come to this country, basically to be abused by criminal organised gangs. These are international operations and they have got to stop.” Conservative Party Chairman Lee Anderson sparked a storm after telling Express.co.uk that illegal migrants should ‘f*** off back to France’ if they don’t like staying on barges. His comments come as the Government moved the first men onto the the Bibby Stockholm barge. However 20 of the 35 due to move onto the vessel refused. Taking to Twitter, Mr Anderson said: ‘Note to the Left. Every illegal migrant that crosses the Channel from France is taking the place of someone genuinely in danger in a refugee camp. ‘Why can’t you see that these fit healthy young men are actually preventing help reaching those desperate people who really need it?’