The Manx government insists it has not been approached by Westminster about any plan to house asylum seekers here.

Newspapers in the UK reported last week that Home Secretary Priti Patel was considering ’offshoring’ refugees.

Among locations apparently being considered are the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight and the Scottish islands, according to leaked Downing Street document.

But a spokesman for the Manx government said they would not comment on what appear to be reports of leaked UK government documents.

But he added: ’However, as the Isle of Man is self-governing, the UK government would not be able to open any sort of processing centre on the island without consent.

’The UK government has not contacted the Isle of Man government about any such proposal.’

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference on Sunday, Ms Patel pledged to overhaul the UK’s ’fundamentally broken’ asylum system.

There have been record numbers of people making the journey across the English Channel to the UK in September.

A UK government source is reported as saying: ’We are looking at all options to stop the small boats in the Channel, and offshoring is part of that.

’In terms of locations you could look at the Shetlands, the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man, and those sorts of areas.

The source added: ’This is all fairly down the track and it’s not going to be an overnight thing.

’It will also require changes to legislation. And if we were going to build anything at any of these places we would have to ensure there are appropriate services and provisions for asylum seekers who are sent there.’

The source said any accommodation constructed on an island would not take the form of secure detention centres.