Ministers have been warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” if asylum seekers arriving in the UK are accommodated in camps on military bases and on barges.
Approximately 171 organisations – including the Refugee Council, Choose Love, faith groups, city of sanctuary representatives and law centres – have written to Rishi Sunak urging him to “listen to common sense” and scrap plans for asylum camps at former RAF bases at Scampton in Lincolnshire, Wethersfield in Essex and Catterick in North Yorkshire and the site of a former prison in Bexhill in East Sussex, along with proposals to use ferries and barges.
The letter says the sites are “deeply unsuitable” and the government risks creating an “entirely preventable humanitarian catastrophe” if it presses ahead with plans to house people seeking asylum on these sites.
The immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, announced on 29 March that long-trailed plans for camps on former military sites would go ahead. The government has also stated its intention to use ferries and barges as accommodation.
The new sites follow the government’s withdrawal last year of the plan for a site on an ex-RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, after a campaign by local people and refugee-supporting organisations.
“We believe people should be housed in communities, not camps,” the letter states. “Placing thousands of people in confined sites, in remote locations, will cause significant harm to people fleeing war and persecution and damage community relations.
“If these sites are allowed to go ahead, people seeking safety will find themselves isolated in prison-like conditions without adequate advice, healthcare or support. These facilities will segregate and re-traumatise people, and are being planned with no consideration of either the needs of people seeking asylum or local communities. The complete lack of prior consultation with the communities where these sites are planned is inexcusable and emblematic of the Home Office’s wider approach.”
The signatories of the letter advocate the less headline-grabbing approach of speeding up the processing of asylum claims. “The safest, quickest and most cost-effective way to end the use of hotels and fix the problems in our asylum accommodation system would be through making fair and timely decisions on people’s asylum claims.”
It calls on the government to recommit to working in partnership with local authorities and devolved administrations to improve asylum dispersal and accommodation.
It also urges government to completely scrap the illegal migration bill.
“This is a manufactured crisis of the government’s own making, and we refuse to stand by while vulnerable people and local communities pay the price,” the letter concludes. “We urge you to listen to common sense and change course now, before you create an entirely preventable humanitarian catastrophe.”
In response to the letter, Jenrick said: “The use of expensive hotels to house those making unnecessary and dangerous journeys must stop. We will not elevate the interests of illegal migrants over the British people we are elected to serve.
“We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing – including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe.
“All accommodation will meet our legal obligations and we will work closely with the local community to address their concerns, including through financial support.”
