Asylum seekers to be moved onto more barracks as Labour ramps up attempts to close migrant hotels
The Houhas sought planning permission to accommodate 3,750 migrants at three more barracks
Asylum seekers will be moved to former military barracks as the Government pursues its goal to shut more hotels.
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As the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, prepares to introduce hardline reforms to Parliament next week, her department has sought planning permission to accommodate 3,750 migrants at three more barracks.
These are Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites in:
- Bicester, Oxfordshire
- Burham, Suffolk
- Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire
It appears the Home Office is trying to revive efforts to use the disused RAF base in a small village near York after the Tories were forced to abandon the plan in 2022 to house up to 1,500 asylum seekers there in the face of opposition from local people and a council legal challenge.
The Government is now also looking to expand the use of existing sites in Crowborough in East Sussex until 2030 and Wethersfield in Essex beyond 2027.
Read More: Thousands gather in Crowborough to protest against migrants living on town's former army base
Labour pledged to stop using asylum hotels by the next election.
The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels has fallen to its lowest level since data was first reported in 2022, according to Home Office figures published last month.
There were 20,885 people staying in such accommodation while they were awaiting a decision on their asylum claims at the end of March, down 35% year-on-year from 32,326.
The total had climbed as high as 56,018 at the end of September 2023.
The issue of people being housed in hotels came to the fore last year with protests outside some sites
Border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said: ”We promised to close every asylum hotel and hand them back to communities, and that is exactly what we are doing.
“Twenty more hotels have closed, and hotel numbers have more than halved since their peak. Instead, we’re moving asylum seekers into ex-military sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last Government left us with.
“This is a system being brought back under control – and we will not stop until the job is done.”
The Refugee Council’s Imran Hussain said: “Moving refugees from unsuitable hotels to unsuitable former military sites is storing up problems for the next prime minister by repeating policies that failed in the recent past. It would be wise to rethink this approach.”