The Home Office spent £50m on an asylum centre… not a single migrant stayed there

The Home Office spent £50m on an asylum centre… not a single migrant stayed there



Posted by theipaper

19 comments

  1. The decision by [Labour ministers to scrap plans for asylum accommodation](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-warned-depth-home-office-asylum-crisis-3144238?ico=in-line_link) at the former headquarters of the famous Dam Busters RAF squadron has cost taxpayers £48.5m despite not a single migrant ever staying there, *The i Paper* can reveal.

    In 2023, the Conservative government announced plans to convert the former RAF Scampton airbase in Lincolnshire into a holding centre to accommodate up to 2,000 people who arrive in the UK by small boats or other potentially illegal methods.

    However, shortly after Labour came to power, [ministers cancelled the plans ](https://inews.co.uk/news/home-office-scraps-plan-raf-scampton-asylum-seekers-60m-spent-3262925?ico=in-line_link)arguing the centre was no longer necessary and the costs of the project had risen significantly.

    Speaking last September, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said: “Faster asylum processing, increased returns and tighter enforcement of immigration rules will reduce demand for accommodation like Scampton.”

    The Home Office’s recently published annual report stated said: “RAF Scampton, the former Ministry of Defence site in Lincolnshire, was planned to be used for asylum accommodation. Plans were axed as the assessment found the site was not value for money for the taxpayer. This has resulted in a constructive loss of £48.5m.”

    It is understood that much of this “constructive loss” was down to a £39m payment to Portakabin to provide factory-made accommodation to house migrants at the sites. Other fees are likely to include consultancy, planning and facility management charges.

    The cost of cancelling the RAF Scampton plans is the latest in multi-million pound bills picked up by the taxpayer linked to successive governments’ attempts to tackle the asylum issue.

  2. Tories got rid of consulates which would have done the same thing.

  3. This country really is a joke. I’m so fed up with them pissing money away like it is a fucking game to them.
    Wasting so much time and money to line their and their mates pockets.

  4. The 50 million was only just enough to cover the “dodgy dealings” and “jobs for the boys”, unfortunately after that money was “invested” there was none left to actually house any migrants.

  5. Will someone be held accountable for this? Pretty sure if I ‘ballsed up’ 50 million quid I’d get in pretty big trouble.

  6. Guessing that much like the migrant boat hotel someone in government profited from this.
    Honestly, so many snouts in troughs it’s an absolute joke.

  7. In sold my car because it was compatible with the dope smoking lifecycle but the good news is i have more
    Money for weed

  8. Money that could have been spent on it’s people.

    Some companies give back to it’s customers, a gesture for their custom.

    The British people are customers of the UK Government – give back, give back what you have taken.

  9. 0 accountability in government.
    0 regulation of government or government lead projects.
    0 decisions made thinking of the longer 8+ year scale

  13. According to the story they were right to cancel it. The conversion to an asylum center was never finished because once it reached £50 mil they decided it was getting too expensive to be worth it and pulled the plug.

    Would we rather they spent another £50 million on it?

  14. *disingenuous news!!!*

    The plans to convert the base were put on hold DURING the Conservative government as a direct result of a 77,000 large petition, multiple protests and lawsuits from local residents.

    Labour scrapped the project after seeing how much had already been spent before moving the bed in.

    They are actively trying to recoup the cost by selling it to developers who will turn the area into an industrial park.

    Yet again, labour gets the blame for trying to fix a Conservative blunder.

  16. You mean someone hope a tender yo build something that was never intended to be used so they could steel a load of cash and back hand a politician.

  17. It looks like a jail, no access to young local females.

  18. If this country would spend the same amount of time and money taking care of British people- this country would be the best in the world.

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