Downing Street has defended the prospect of paying more to house asylum seekers in disused barracks instead of hotels, arguing that quelling public disquiet was worth any extra cost. A spokesperson for the prime minister said that 'communities don’t want asylum seekers housed in hotels, and neither does the government,' emphasising that the issue had become one of 'public confidence.'
The Home Office confirmed on Tuesday plans to use Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough training camp in East Sussex to house 900 male asylum seekers from next month. Officials said these would be the first of up to 10,000 people the Home Office hoped to house on military sites, working with the Ministry of Defence to find more disused locations.
Protests over using hotels for asylum seekers were held this summer across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Downing Street indicated that some higher costs of moving asylum seekers into military sites would be worthwhile, as the location of housing had become an issue of public confidence. The prime minister’s spokesperson said: 'The costs will vary site by site, but our priorities are security and fairness.'
However, refugee organisations and local politicians described the plans as 'fanciful' and 'too expensive.' Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said accommodating such large numbers in barracks had been tried by the last government and had failed. Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, accused Labour of breaking its promise to end the use of barracks, exposing taxpayers to soaring costs.
Local Conservative MP Nus Ghani called the plans for Crowborough 'wholly inappropriate,' noting the site had been rejected under the previous government due to layout and cost issues. Highland Council also criticised the UK government for failing to consider the local impact on community cohesion in Inverness.
An assessment by Whitehall’s spending watchdog last year found that plans to use former RAF bases could be more expensive than hotels. For example, housing asylum seekers at RAF Scampton would have cost £45.1m more than hotels, while RAF Wethersfield would have been £500,000 less.
