Keir Starmer and Priti Patel join forces to block migrant camp at former RAF base

Protesters oppose plans to house migrants at RAF Scampton – David Rose for The Telegraph

Sir Keir Starmer has joined with Priti Patel to try to block plans to house thousands of asylum seekers at a former RAF base in James Cleverly’s constituency.

Proposals to use emergency planning powers to allow RAF Wethersfield near Braintree in Essex to house asylum seekers for the next three years are being challenged by the Labour leader and Yvette Cooper, his shadow home secretary.

They have put down a motion in the Commons to force a vote on the plans, which would also allow the Dambusters’ former RAF base in Lincolnshire to be retained as an asylum camp until 2027.

The move has been backed by Ms Patel, the former home secretary, whose constituency neighbours RAF Wethersfield, because she claims the decision to use the site for asylum seekers was badly thought through and a “gimmick taken with inadequate consideration of the local impact and costs to the public purse”.

The motion seeks to annul the statutory instrument, which would give the Government powers to override local council objections and continue to use RAF Wethersfield and RAF Scampton as asylum camps. By laying the motion, they will force a debate and vote, which the Government would likely whip and win.

New accommodation units at RAF Scampton air base – Christopher Furlong/2024 Getty Images

The Home Office was heavily criticised last month by the National Audit Office, the spending watchdog, for its mishandling of the two sites, which meant that costs ballooned and fewer migrants than planned moved on to them.

Officials calculated it would take £5 million each to convert the RAF bases into asylum camps but have ended up spending £49 million on Wethersfield and £27 million on Scampton, between five and 10 times more than budgeted.

Wethersfield is currently housing fewer than 580 migrants when it was projected to hold nearly 1,500, while RAF Scampton remains empty. It means they are costing more per asylum seeker than it would have done if migrants were retained in hotels.

Mr Cleverly, whose constituency includes Wethersfield, had previously criticised the decision to use the base because of its remote location and inadequate transport infrastructure to support the projected 1,500 asylum seekers. Now Home Secretary, he has recused himself from decisions on it.

‘Complete gimmick taken in haste’

Ms Cooper said: “Neither Wethersfield nor Scampton can be seen as either a sustainable solution for housing asylum seekers nor value for money for the taxpayer, which is why Labour opposes them – and is forcing a debate on their use.

“It’s time the Tories adopted Labour’s plan to recruit over 1,000 asylum case workers to clear the asylum backlog and an additional 1,000 enforcement officers in a new returns unit to ensure those with no right to be here can be swiftly removed.”

Ms Patel said the Government should have been investing in expanding detention centres rather than pouring money into non-detained accommodation schemes like Wethersfield.

“With the Safety of Rwanda Act now passed and a new treaty in place, we need thousands of detained spaces in removals centres. This new capacity is crucial to the success of our partnership, the deterrent effect and securing our borders,” she said.

“The decision to use Wethersfield for non-detained asylum accommodation was ill-thought-through, a complete gimmick taken in haste and without adequate consideration of the impact local and costs to the public purse.”

Wethersfield and Scampton are not detention camps, but migrants housed there could become eligible for deportation flights to Rwanda once the Government activates powers to remove them.

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