First the Rwanda scheme, now Labour scraps plan to hold asylum seekers on RAF site

No migrants were ever housed at the base but the policy still cost taxpayers £60m

Labour has scrapped plans to house asylum seekers at RAF Scampton, weeks after it dumped the Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation scheme.

The Home Office said the much-criticised plan for the site did not represent value for money for the taxpayer.

Campaigners welcomed the move, saying former military sites were never suitable places to house those coming to the UK seeking safety.

The former airbase in Lincolnshire was at the centre of the previous Tory government’s plan to accommodate migrants who arrived across the Channel in small boats.

Opening the site from the autumn as planned would have cost a further £122m by the end of its use in 2027, meaning the site no longer represents value for money, the government said. Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle revealed that £60m has already been spent on work at the base.

This would leave the total cost “nearer £200m”, she said, a figure which “clearly fails to deliver value for money for the taxpayer”.

About £60m has already been spent on the site, according to the Home Office (PA)

The move comes just weeks after Sir Keir Starmer ditched the Rwanda plan as one of his first acts in office, saying the scheme, which would have given asylum seekers a one-way ticket to the country, was “dead and buried”.

Announcing the move, Dame Angela said: “Faster asylum processing, increased returns and tighter enforcement of immigration rules will reduce demand for accommodation like Scampton and save millions for the taxpayer as we drive forward work to clear the asylum backlog and strengthen our border security.

“We have also listened to community feedback and concerns about using this site for asylum accommodation.”

The previous government also left a long backlog in asylum claims, including among those it had earmarked for transfer to Rwanda, despite failing to get flights off the ground following a damning judgment by the Supreme Court.

Dame Angela also said ministers intend to “return to using long-standing dispersed asylum accommodation and will do so as soon as is practicable, once we have made progress on clearing the backlog”.

The minister also said the Home Office would introduce a new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill “at the earliest opportunity”, designed to disrupt the criminal gangs helping people to make Channel crossings.

Jon Featonby, from the Refugee Council, said: “The government’s decision not to use RAF Scampton as asylum accommodation is very welcome. We know from our work that as well as being very costly, former military sites are never suitable places to house people who have come to the UK seeking safety.”

He added that the announcement was an “important step to making sure that the men, women and children who are seeking asylum in the UK are housed in communities where they can be supported to be safe.”