Newly released files from the National Archives show that Tony Blair's government considered breaking international law and setting up a detention camp on the Isle of Mull to deter asylum seekers. The papers, from 2003, reveal the then prime minister was increasingly frustrated by the failure to stop people coming to the UK.
In a paper titled 'Asylum: the nuclear option', advisers questioned whether the UK needed an asylum system at all, arguing that refugees would have passed through a safe country before reaching Britain. Other suggestions included safe havens overseas for failed asylum seekers, such as sending Iraqis to Turkey and Somalis to Kenya.
The brainstorming session, chaired by chief of staff Jonathan Powell, also considered legislating incompatibly with the European Convention on Human Rights, which would breach international law. Advisers acknowledged the UK would likely lose in the European Court of Human Rights but said it would send a strong message for two to three years.
Some ideas parallel current government policies, such as the Rwanda scheme, though the most controversial measures were never enacted by Labour. At the time, a record 84,132 asylum applications were made in 2002, with fewer than 20% successful.
