Village that voted to leave UK can house migrants in 'self-contained' former military barracks, minister says
Home Office minister Anna Turley told Nick Ferrari the sites would also keep migrants “self-contained”.
A village that has previously held a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom could house migrants in former military barracks, Home Office minister Anna Turley has told LBC.
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Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Ms Turley said that the sites would also keep migrants “self-contained”.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said wealthier parts of the UK would have to “play their part” in housing asylum seekers.
One proposed site is in Piddington, near Bicester in Oxfordshire, a tiny village that has previously staged a referendum where ots residents voted in favour of leaving the UK.
The chairman of its parish council has said more than 1,200 people are set to be housed on the site, near a village home to 350 people.
Ms Turley said it is a matter of “fairness” for asylum seekers to be housed in such areas, adding the poorer areas with lower property prices had already taken their “fair share” of migrants.
"They're not going to be in the village, they're going to be contained in a former military base, which has all the self-contained facilities.
"They will be allowed out, but everything they need will be on that site, so they will be managed, they will be contained."
She added that the Home Office is looking at former military bases around the country, as well as former industrial sites, student accommodation, and "other means by which we can put people in secure places" that are "contained, manageable and... more affordable than putting people in hotels."
Read more: Iconic Blackpool site among 13 asylum hotels to close amid immigration crackdown
Read more: Middle-class areas must house more asylum seekers, Andy Burnham insists
But Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary & Conservative MP for Croydon South, has slammed the plan.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, he said Mr Burnham is "out of his depth" as he branded the plan to send migrants to middle-class areas as "totally unacceptable".
He said: "Andy Burnham is worse than Keir Starmer, more illegal immigrants entering the country, mostly of course young men, contrary to what Angela Rayner absurdly claimed, yesterday.
"It's quite clear Andy Burnham is out of his depth, he's got no idea how to fix this problem at all and what he seemed to be saying yesterday is that his solution was to basically send these illegal immigrants to little villages and little towns all around the country, places like Piddington, which is totally unacceptable."
"What should be happening is when these illegal immigrants arrive in our country, they should be immediately deported with no asylum claim, no human rights claim, no modern slavery claim, no legal aid, no court process, no messing around, no hotel, nothing. Just deported straight away back to their country of origin if that's possible, —or a safe third country like Rwanda."
It comes as the Government announced 13 hotels housing asylum seekers, including in Blackpool and Stratford-upon-Avon, were being closed.
Ms Turley said: "I was just in Blackpool yesterday where we went to the Metropole Hotel, which we've finally been able to announce is closing to asylum accommodation and it was great to see this historic hotel, which was built in 1776, that should be there as part of Blackpool's tourism industry, bringing jobs and being part of the a great British seaside town's seafront back to the use that it should be there for families and tourists."
She added: "So that was just one example of, the 13 that we announced yesterday, 44 we've closed so far this year. We're now down from a peak of 400 to less than 160 hotels, and we're determined to make sure we close every single one by the end of the next Parliament.
"We believe it was costing about £53,000 per person to be in a hotel. the cost of the military base at the moment is probably not too dissimilar, but that's because we're at setup costs.
"So obviously, as you can imagine, we've had to adapt these military bases, we've had to buy them, we've had to make them secure, we've had to make sure they've got all the infrastructure and the resources, so that cost will come down over time."
Asylum seekers have been housed at various sites throughout the country, including at former military sites in rural areas such as at Wethersfield in Essex and Crowborough in East Sussex.
The Government has plans for more housing at former military sites, subject to planning permission and approvals.
The Home Office is assessing whether Barnham Camp in Suffolk could be used to accommodate men aged between 18 and 65.
Protesters last weekend gathered outside the former RAF base and unrest has broken out in nearby Thetford, Norfolk, where people are thought to have tried to storm homes linked to asylum seekers.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Piddington Parish Council chairman Tim McNally said: “The strain on resources locally is bad enough, but what impact will there be having a huge 1,250 (person) asylum centre campus?”