Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was a cabinet minister when the plans were first considered, said the idea was dropped because “it was just thought to be impossibly expensive to do”.

He told GB News: “I was involved in some of the discussions looking at this whilst I was a member of the government and unfortunately it would cost at least a million pounds per person you sent there to do it.

“You’ve got to send out Portakabin residences for your builders, then you’ve got builders who have to live there whilst they’re doing the building, then you have to build the premises for the migrants to live in, then you’ve got to persuade people that they want to go and live on Ascension Island for long periods to run the centre.”

Maybe condemn it for being immoral, perhaps?