Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of breaking another promise after the Home Office said it would increase the number of migrants housed on a former RAF base.
The number of asylum seekers at MDP Wethersfield in Essex will rise by more than 50 per cent, the Home Office has told the local community, in an update quietly disclosed on Wednesday.
Currently, the site holds 800 migrants, but this will increase by a further 445 extra contingency beds that will be used to accommodate migrants who cross the Channel on small boats, until more permanent places can be found for them. It takes the total number of migrants that can be housed at the site to 1,245.
The increase comes despite Starmer pledging at last year’s general election that he would close the site and stop housing asylum seekers on disused military sites.
The Home Office said: “If called upon, the contingency bedspaces will only be utilised on a temporary basis until such time as the wider accommodation estate is able to manage demand, and the number accommodated at Wethersfield will be reduced back down to 800 bedspaces as soon as possible thereafter.”
Use of the site has been controversial ever since it opened under the previous Conservative government in July 2023.
Keir Starmer has been accused of breaking his promise to end the use of disused military sites to house asylum seekers
HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP
It is one of two large-scale accommodation sites used by the Home Office to house migrants, in addition to hotels, which are housing more than 32,000 migrants and a further 66,000 in dispersal accommodation such as bedsits and multi-occupancy properties across the UK.
The remote location of the Wethersfield site has generated concern among the local community, MPs and local leaders. There are also concerns that migrants being transported to the Essex site will be targeted by protesters who have campaigned against the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping in the same county.
Nearly 4,500 migrants have crossed the Channel this month alone, taking the total to more than 24,000 this year, which is about 50 per cent higher than this time last year.
The Conservatives accused Starmer and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, of breaking another pledge.
• Home Office refuses to name end date for hotels housing migrants
Sir James Cleverly, the shadow housing and communities secretary whose Braintree constituency includes Wethersfield, told The Times: “I was never happy that asylum seekers were held at Wethersfield and while home secretary, secured a cap on the numbers of asylum seekers at there. I remain opposed to any increase.
“Starmer said the site needs to close, but is now increasing numbers. He and Cooper are doing this because they scrapped the Rwanda plan and failed to reduce small boat crossings. The first half of the year has the highest number of arrivals numbers on record.
“I will keep pushing the Government to reverse this decision and close the site as soon as possible.”
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “This is another Starmer U-turn as his government descends into chaos.
“He promised to close this facility down, now he’s expanding it. Despite this, there are more illegal immigrants now in hotels than at the time of the election because we’ve seen record ever numbers cross the Channel this year.
“Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have lost control of our borders, and this chaos is the result.”
Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, also accused Starmer of breaking his promise, saying: “Given the anxiety and despair this former military camp has inflicted on its residents, the government should be shutting it down, not expanding its capacity.
“That’s what Keir Starmer promised in opposition, and that was before the High Court ruled that survivors of torture and modern slavery had been unlawfully accommodated at the camp. It is deeply worrying that the opposite is now happening, with hundreds more set to the subjected to this prison-like camp.”
Graham Butland, the leader of Braintree district council, told the Guardian: “This disused airbase in a very rural area does not have the infrastructure to host asylum seekers on such a large scale.”
The Home Office said: “All use of property or sites under our ownership is carried out in accordance with relevant planning permissions, and we work together with local authorities and other stakeholders to ensure the accommodation estate is continuously reviewed and managed safely and effectively at all times.”