British PM Sunak says UK to house more asylum-seekers on barges

Britain has ordered two more accommodation barges to house asylum-seekers, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Monday.

Sunak has pledged to stop crossings of the Channel from northern Europe made in small boats, after record numbers of people arrived last year.On a visit to the Channel port of Dover, Sunak announced new sites at former Royal Air Force bases to accommodate "hundreds" in the coming months.

"Nearly 3,000" will be housed there by the end of the year. To reduce pressures on local communities, we will also house people on ships," he told a news conference.With the UK now out of the EU, immigration remains a live political issue, particularly as a general election approaches next year.