Housing migrants in barracks worth it to quell public anger despite cost – No 10

Moving asylum seekers into military barracks will be worth it, even if it costs more than using hotels, because it will help quell public discontent, Downing Street has suggested.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman also rejected suggestions the Government had not moved swiftly enough to grasp the migrant crisis.

The Home Office confirmed on Monday that two barracks in Scotland and southern England would be used to house about 900 men temporarily.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wants to see asylum hotels closed “as quickly as possible” and is “bearing down on this every day of the week”.

The plans will see men housed at Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex.

Spending on the plan could prove to be higher than housing migrants in hotels, defence minister Luke Pollard signalled on Tuesday morning.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said costs “will vary site by site”, when asked about Mr Pollard’s suggestion.

“But our priorities are security and fairness,” he added.

The spokesman continued: “Military sites can provide proper security, health and wellbeing standards, and that is what we’re intent on delivering, instead of luxury sites, as we’ve seen over recent years.”

Asked if this meant the Government thought barracks were a better option even if costs were higher, the spokesman replied: “I think there’s a number of issues in play.

“The costs will vary site by site, and as I say, we are looking at these initial two sites and if they will prove the concept, and if successful we’ll look at scaling that up.

“But this is also a core issue of public confidence. The public is very clear it does not want asylum seekers housed in hotels, and neither does the Government.”

The spokesman was asked why the Government was talking about scaling up and speeding up its work when it had promised to hit the ground running to tackle illegal migration.

“I completely reject the premise of your question,” the spokesman said, pointing to the 35,000 returns since the general election, among other efforts.

Speaking to ITV Granada on a visit to Lancashire on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said: “I want to see the asylum hotels closed down as quickly as possible, but obviously you’ll appreciate that we’ve got to process the claims and or find other accommodation.”

Mr Pollard had earlier told broadcasters that further bases were being sized up for migrant accommodation beyond the two announced.

Barracks sites will be handed over in their “entirety” to the Home Office, Mr Pollard told LBC.

Migrants are not being housed alongside serving military personnel, he added, as the bases selected are currently out of use.

The Home Office budget, not the Ministry of Defence’s cash, will be spent on housing migrants at the military sites, he added.

Both Crowborough and Cameron barracks sites were used to accommodate Afghan families evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 while they were resettled elsewhere, with that work ending earlier this year.

The move is part of Government efforts to end the use of asylum hotels, which a parliamentary committee branded “failed, chaotic and expensive” on Monday.

But reacting to the plans, Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith said: “How much evidence does the Government need that camps are bad for people’s health and wellbeing?

“We’ve had Napier, Penally and Wethersfield, and hunger strikes, protests and attempted suicides have been a regular occurrence at all of them.

“Opening more camps will only serve to retraumatise more people who have already survived horrors such as war and torture.”

He added that the National Audit Office found that Wethersfield in Essex and RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire would cost more than asylum hotels when including “exorbitant set-up costs of such sites”.

“This is a complete failure of Government policy, and a failure of the Government’s duty to protect the wellbeing of people seeking sanctuary,” Mr Smith said.

Industrial sites, temporary facilities and disused accommodation are also being considered as housing for migrants, and officials have been ordered to accelerate work identifying alternatives.

As of June this year, about 32,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels, down from a peak of more than 56,000 in 2023 but 2,500 more than at the same point last year.

And expected costs of Home Office accommodation contracts for 2019-2029 have tripled from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion, following what the Commons Home Affairs Committee called a “dramatic increase” in demand.