DISUSED holiday parks, surplus military bases and former student halls of residence will be used to accommodate asylum seekers under tough new immigration plans unveiled by Rishi Sunak. 

The Prime Minister said repurposing already existing buildings would help end the “unfair and appalling” £5.5 million spent every day on hotels. 

Other measures announced by the Prime Minister included a new small boats operational command to tackle the number of people crossing the English Channel to enter the UK.

The unit of 700 will use military capabilities and technology like drones.

The Tory leader also announced a deal with the government in Albania which will see anyone from the country applying for asylum being returned.

Nearly 13,000 Albanians cross the Channel in small boats this year, around a third of all arrivals. 

Labour dismissed much of the new plan as a “gimmick” while the SNP said they had “grave concerns.”

In a Commons statement, Mr Sunak said new laws - to be introduced in the new year - would make it “unambiguously clear” that “if you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here”.

He told MPs: "It is unfair that people come here illegally.

"It is not cruel or unkind to want to break the stranglehold of criminal gangs who trade in human misery, and who exploit our system, and laws.

"Enough is enough."

He said the world could not doubt the UK's "generosity of spirit" but added that "far too many of the beneficiaries of that generosity are not those directly fleeing war zones or at risk of persecution, but people crossing the Channel in small boats."

He added: “Many originate from fundamentally safe countries, or travel through safe countries, their journeys are not ad hoc, but co-ordinated by ruthless organised criminals and every single journey risks the lives of women, children and we should be honest mostly men at sea.

"This is not what previous generations intended when they drafted our humanitarian laws.”

The Prime Minister also promised to deal with the asylum backlog by the end of next year. Currently, there are more than 40,000 migrants waiting for a decision on their asylum claim. 

He promised to double the number of Home Office caseworkers, and pledged they would be given shorter guidance and less paperwork.

Mr Sunak also committed to the Rwanda policy telling MPs that people whose asylum claims had been rejected would be sent to the East African country when legal battles have finished.

He also said that parliament will set an annual quota for refugees to come to the country through safe and legal routes, in consultation with local authorities to determine capacity.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the Conservative of offering “gimmicks” and not “solutions”, saying the content of the Prime Minister’s statement on Channel crossings has been said before.

Sir Keir said: “Time and time again this Government has not provided serious solutions. The Prime Minister sat around the Cabinet table the whole time.

“Where there should have been solutions, we’ve had unworkable gimmicks.

“As I listened to that statement – all of that has been said almost word for word before.”

He added: "Plenty of newspaper headlines about wave machines, prison ships, fantasy islands, but no effective action.

“All designed to mask failure, to distract from a broken asylum system that can’t process claims, can’t return those with no right to be here, and can’t protect our borders.”

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s new Westminster leader told MPs he had “grave concerns” about the proposed legislation, in respect of accommodation and about the “one-size-fits-all approach to asylum seekers emanating from Albania”.

He added: “I would like to ask the Prime Minister a very simple question: has he consulted with the United Nations high commissioner on refugees in respect of these proposals, and if not, why not?

“But ultimately, the solutions don’t lie in either or any of those above proposals.

"They lie in ensuring that safe and legal routes exist. The Prime Minister made reference, extensive reference to safe and legal routes. So let him rise to his feet and outline one – one single, safe and legal route.”

Mr Sunak replied: “I’m happy to tell the Honourable Gentleman that the Development Secretary met last weekend with the UN high commissioner for refugees, but what I would say: it’s a point of difference between us and the parties opposite. We shouldn’t need the permission of someone outside to control our own borders.”

On safe and legal routes, he said: “In the last few years, we have made offers of over 450,000 to welcome people from Afghanistan, from Syria, from Hong Kong, and most recently from Ukraine, and that’s because this is a compassionate tolerant country and it always will be.”