THE Tories were accused of “putting cruelty before common sense” today after the party unveiled plans to house up to 2,000 migrants in tents on disused military sites.

Refugee charities said ministers were treating asylum-seekers “with utter contempt” amid fears the contingency measures, which have been likened to “concentration camps,” will create more dangerous overcrowding like in Kent’s infamous Manston Asylum Centre.

Ravishaan Rahel Muthiah of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants told the Morning Star: “The government continues to double down on its indefensible treatment of people seeking safety.

“Going from unsafe, overcrowded barges to forcing people to live in tents is simply unacceptable.

“Each inhumane move chips away at the foundations of our country’s humanitarian commitments.

“The Home Secretary continues to treat people seeking a safer life in our country with utter contempt.”

Mr Muthiah said the use of tents at Manston last year had led to “horrifying conditions that put people’s health and lives at risk,” adding: “We cannot keep treating people this way.

“Instead of using millions of taxpayer money to cram people in tents or unsafe barges, the Home Office should be providing safe, healthy and secure housing for all.

“This government is putting cruelty before common sense.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman revealed the plans, due to come into effect next month, after her humiliating court defeat when the routine housing of unaccompanied migrant kids in hotels was ruled illegal.

Border Force expects a surge of small boat arrivals over the next three months, but departmental sources said a similar plan had been rejected last year over fears it would trigger legal challenges on grounds of inhumanity.

Refugee Action chief executive Tim Naor Hilton said: “It’s staggering the Home Secretary plans to use what a government source compared to a concentration camp to house people seeking asylum, in the same week courts ruled she broke the law three times with her inhumane treatment of refugees.

“The winners from this cruel plan will be the Home Office’s asylum housing contractors, who trouser tens of millions of pounds in taxpayer-subsidised profits as standards continue to plummet.

“This is yet another way the government has developed to demonise people seeking asylum, which is rooted in its deeply racist approach to refugee protection.

“It really shouldn’t be too much to ask that people who have fled violence, torture and persecution have their claims assessed quickly and justly and are housed in safe homes in our communities.”

Refugee Council chief Enver Solomon said the plans were “yet another crisis response from a government that has created a chaotic and dysfunctional asylum system that treats men, women and children seeking safety as though they are undeserving of being treated with common decency and humanity.”

“There would be no need for tents or crowded hotels if the government cleared the backlog of asylum cases quickly and effectively,” he added.

“This accommodation issue is yet another crisis of the government’s own making.”

No Accommodation Network director Bridget Young said the government was in a “race to the bottom of what we deem an acceptable way to treat a human being.”

“We know from the front-line work of our members who support people in the asylum system, that living in substandard and inappropriate accommodation can have a severe and lasting impact on people’s mental and physical wellbeing,” she said.

“This in turn affects people’s ability to access support and successfully integrate into their community.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the idea was an example that the Home Office is “flailing around” and an admission it didn’t expect Tory legislation promising to “stop the boats” will work. 

But she also did not rule out her own party taking such measures if it was in government, saying not enough was known about the government’s plans, as “we don’t know what these proposals are so we’d need to see.”

A government spokesman said: “We have been clear that the use of hotels to house asylum-seekers is unacceptable, there are currently more than 51,000 asylum-seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6 million a day.”