More military barracks to house asylum seekers

MINISTERS will do “whatever it takes” to close asylum hotels as the UK Government braced for battle over plans to move migrants into former military barracks.

- DAVID HUGHES, GEORGE LITHGOW and FLORA THOMPSON

Planning permission is being sought at Ministry of Defence sites in Bicester in Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk, and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, to accommodate 3,750 asylum seekers, the department said.

It appears the Home Office is trying to revive efforts to use the disused RAF base in a small village near York after it was 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 UK 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.

Professor Olga Matthias, a leading campaigner against the Linton plans in 2022, was asked for her reaction to the new proposals yesterday, and said: “I can scream. Is that good enough?”

She added: “Who knew that stupidity has such a big, long shelf-life?”

Prof Matthias said: “It’s just disbelief, isn’t it? We’re utterly and completely gobsmacked. Why are they doing this?”