The foreign secretary has criticised plans to house asylum seekers at an RAF base in his constituency as part of a controversial scheme announced on Tuesday to detain and deport people en masse.
The Guardian first reported several days ago that people in north Essex were urging ministers to abandon plans to accommodate 1,500 male asylum seekers at a former RAF base on their doorstep. The Home Office declined to comment on whether the plans were to use the site as a detention centre or as an accommodation centre.
In a statement published on Facebook on Tuesday evening, James Cleverly, the MP for Braintree, wrote: “There are reports in the media that the Home Office plans to accommodate asylum seekers at the former MDP Wethersfield. I have spoken with the immigration minister who has confirmed that while this is being considered, along with similar sites, a final decision has not been made at this stage. I highlighted the remote nature of the site, the limited transport infrastructure and narrow road network and that these factors would mean the site wasn’t appropriate for asylum accommodation.”
In his statement, Cleverly added that he supported the government’s overall plans to halt arrivals of asylum seekers on small boats.
Last August, the Home Office abandoned plans to establish an asylum seeker accommodation centre at an RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse, in a rural part of North Yorkshire, after mass opposition to the plans. Campaigners who support asylum seekers, and also those who do not, argued that the isolated rural site close to a small village was an unsuitable location for such a centre.
People living close to Wethersfield airbase say similar issues apply. They believe the 325-hectare (800-acre) site is unsuitable as it is extremely rural, being predominantly farmland with small villages and hamlets widely dispersed across a large area. It is a two-mile walk to the nearest village, with an infrequent bus service from the village to the nearest town. The site was originally a second world war RAF base and then a US air force base during the cold war.
On Tuesday, Braintree district council issued a statement saying it was seeking clarification from the Home Office about its plans.
While the Home Office defended the legality and its ability to implement plans to detain small boat arrivals en masse before forcibly removing them from the UK, doubt continued to be cast by the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) and dozens of NGOs and lawyers, with even the government acknowledging there may be legal difficulties ahead.
Toufique Hossain, of Duncan Lewis solicitors, said the proposals diminished the UK’s standing at home and abroad and that common law and public law principles developed by the English courts long before the 1998 Human Rights Act was introduced would need to be considered. “There is no guarantee that this latest example of law-making on the hoof will withstand judicial scrutiny,” he said.
The Home Office and Braintree district council have been approached for comment.
