Priti Patel 'asked Home Office to explore sending asylum seekers to island in the south Atlantic'

Migrants seeking asylum in Britain could be processed offshore under plans being developed by Priti Patel.

Officials have ruled out Ascension Island and St Helena as impractical because of their distance from the UK but the Home Secretary is still seeking a third country where asylum seekers could be held while their applications are processed.

Sources close to Ms Patel countered criticism of the proposal by citing similar plans by Tony Blair when he faced a surge in illegal migrants crossing the channel by hitching lifts on lorries or trains in 2003.

His transit processing centres in “protected zones in third countries were designed to “deter those who enter the EU illegally and make unfounded asylum applications.”

A Government source said: “We are looking at offshoring but key will be finding an appropriate location.”

The move would require new legislation and could be included in an overhaul of immigration and asylum laws being planned by Ms Patel in an attempt to combat the surge in illegal migrants crossing the Channel. More than 6,000 have crossed the Channel this year.

It follows reports on Wednesday that Ms Patel ordered officials to explore plans for building an asylum processing centre on a remote volcanic island in the south Atlantic - more than 4,000 miles from the UK, it has been reported.

Home Office officials were instructed to look into the feasibility of transferring asylum seekers arriving in the UK to a centre on Ascension Island, a British overseas territory.

Another option said to have been considered was to construct an asylum centre on St Helena, another island in the group where Napoleon was exiled after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

The Foreign Office was consulted on the proposals,and provided an assessment on the practicalities of shipping migrants to such remote locations. However, Ms Patel decided not to go ahead with the scheme because of the distance.

Labour condemned the scheme as "inhumane, completely impractical and wildly expensive".

A Home Office official said: "The UK has a long and proud history of offering refuge to those who need protection. Tens of thousands of people have rebuilt their lives in the UK and we will continue to provide safe and legal routes in the future.

"As ministers have said we are developing plans to reform policies and laws around illegal migration and asylum to ensure we are able to provide protection to those who need it, while preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it."

Ascension Island, which is used as a staging post to supply and defend the Falkland Islands, has an RAF base and population of fewer than 1,000.

Moving asylum seekers there and keeping them supplied was said to represent a considerable logistical challenge.