Asylum seekers who land on Kent's beaches are being triaged at Lydd Airport before they are processed, the Home Office has confirmed.

The site on Romney Marsh is not used for overnight accommodation, but people are given a change of clothes, food, a medical assessment and a Covid test, before being taken to the Tug Haven site in Dover.

Earlier this month it was announced part of the Ministry of Defence site at Manston near Ramsgate, will be used for processing from January which will seepeople stay for up to five days as security and identity checks are carried out.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK's asylum system is broken and has been unreformed for over two decades.

"This government is reforming our national approach to illegal entry to the UK and asylum by making the tough decisions to end the overt exploitation of our laws and UK taxpayers.

“The government has a number of statutory duties for the welfare and wellbeing of migrants who enter the UK which is why the Lydd Airport site is used on occasion for the initial triage for individuals who arrive at beach landings nearby – it is not being used as overnight accommodation or processing.

“The government’s Nationality and Borders Bill will make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introduce life sentences for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country.

"Elected members of Parliament have voted to reform the broken asylum system and the British public want to see these reforms brought forward and implemented.”

The number of people who have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel in small boats this year is now three times the total for the whole of 2020.

The total for the year was more than 25,700 based on figures collated last month.

Twenty-six of the people who died after trying to cross the English Channel by boat last month to reach the UK have now been formally identified.

At least 27 are thought to have died, including seven women, a teenager and a seven-year-old girl.

The identity of one person remains unknown, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

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