East Falkland is home to RAF Mount Pleasant, a military base with a 2.75-kilometre runway, hospital, school, and extensive undeveloped land.
Andrew Gilligan believes migrants might think twice if they were take to the Falklands (Image: GETTY)
The Falkland Islands have been proposed by a prominent former Government adviser as a remote location to house illegal migrants arriving in the UK. The controversial idea has been proposed as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood seeks to overhaul asylum policies amid debate over how to deter small-boat crossings of the English Channel.
The islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic around 8,000 miles from the UK and 300 miles east of Argentina, have a population of just over 3,000. East Falkland is home to RAF Mount Pleasant, a military base with a 2.75-kilometre runway, hospital, school, and extensive undeveloped land.
Lee Anderson has previously floated the idea (Image: Getty)
In a recent article penned for Conservative Home, Andrew Gilligan, who was special adviser to Rishi Sunak, writes: “We should build a new Australian-style offshore migrant camp next door, and send every small-boat arrival and other illegal migrant there.”
He added that the model could be based on Afghanistan’s Camp Bastion, which was built on a barren site to reach a capacity of 28,000.
Mr Gilligan set out how asylum seekers would be treated, explaining: “The message to the new guests would be simple. We will keep you safe. We will treat you according to British legal standards.
“We will house you decently, if austerely, in dormitories. We will not keep you prisoner (unless you start smashing the place up, attack the staff or otherwise break the law.)
“But you won’t be able to work. You will be bored out of your mind. And you will never, ever get to Britain. You will remain in the Falklands until you choose to return (at our expense) to your home country; or to any other country that will take you; or until you die – whichever comes first.”
According to Mr Gilligan, the plan would act as a strong deterrent: “As it becomes obvious that Mahmood’s cunning plan will fail to stop the boats, I think Labour might start to get interested in the Falklands.
“It would be expensive, but worth it. Because if every small boat passenger ended up in the Falklands, the small boats would very soon stop coming.”
The proposal echoes earlier remarks by Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, who previously suggested using remote British territories including the Falklands for asylum processing, provoking criticism from opposition politicians and human rights groups.
Despite the conceptual appeal, practical challenges would be substantial. Transporting asylum seekers to the South Atlantic would require long-haul flights and extensive arrangements for security, healthcare, and daily provisions.
The islands’ harsh weather and limited infrastructure could complicate any large-scale operation, while critics would doubtless warn that housing asylum seekers in such remote locations may raise ethical and legal concerns under international refugee law.
Although entirely hypothetical, Mr Gilligan’s suggestion has reignited discussion over offshore processing as a potential strategy to manage small-boat crossings to the UK.
No government commitment has been announced, and the idea exists solely as commentary, rather than official policy.
