An advanced plan to house up to 1,500 male asylum seekers at a former RAF base in North Yorkshire has been abandoned in another immigration policy climbdown by Conservative ministers.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, confirmed he had “withdrawn the offer” to the Home Office to set up the reception centre in the small village of Linton-on-Ouse. The development comes after both candidates standing to be the next prime minister, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, ruled out sticking to the plans if they were to become leader.
The decision is another embarrassment for the home secretary, Priti Patel, who announced the proposals to ease reliance on hotel accommodation, which costs the taxpayer almost £5m a day. The proposal had faced a legal challenge and opposition by local Tory activists.
When told that Sunak had said he would oppose the site, Wallace, who is backing Liz Truss to become the next Conservative leader, told ITV News: “He didn’t oppose it when he was in government so it’s a new surprise. But because he’s not in government, he won’t know what’s been going on and I’ve withdrawn the offer to the Home office for that site. It’s been with them for a number of months.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Wallace added that four other Ministry of Defence sites had also been made available to the Home Office “if they want to take it up”.
Wallace’s statement was not expected by the Home Office, it is understood, and has led to claims that Patel has been “stitched up” by colleagues.
After Patel’s announcement in April, people from the village, which has a population of about 700, accused ministers of “dropping a bomb” on the community. The local Tory MP, Kevin Hollinrake, questioned Boris Johnson at PMQs, saying residents would not be safe “leaving their homes alone”.
Sunak, the former chancellor who is MP for the neighbouring constituency of Richmond, told the Yorkshire Post on Monday that the plans were “not appropriate”. Truss, the foreign secretary, has also said she understands the proposed centre is “not going ahead”.
Sunak said: “This plan clearly does not have local support and I am concerned that the availability of the site has taken precedence over its suitability. That is why I will ask my home secretary to review the plans so that an alternative solution can be found.”
Speaking in Huddersfield before hustings on Tuesday evening, Truss said Sunak’s intervention was “moot” because the plan had already been dropped by the government.
Nicola David, a campaigner against the plans, welcomed the statement from Wallace. She said: “This plan has been tarnished with legal challenges and robust opposition from the refugee charity sector and local residents – but most of all by a complete lack of common sense and compassion on the part of the Home Office.”
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, said: “We are relieved the government has withdrawn plans to house people who have fled war, conflict and persecution in the former RAF site in Linton-on-Ouse. It shouldn’t have taken an overwhelming public backlash and months and months of incredible campaigning for government to come to this decision.”
The Guardian has received reports that some contractors, including catering staff, who were due to start work on the site have been told to stay at home, but have been placed on full pay because the site has not opened for asylum seekers. It is thought that Serco, the contractors awarded the Linton-on-Ouse contract, will now receive compensation from the Home Office. A Serco spokesperson said the company would not comment on issues relating to Linton-on-Ouse.
The proposals for the reception centre were outlined by Johnson and Patel in April as part of the government’s “new plan for immigration”, put forward to help process asylum claims more efficiently and cost effectively.
By the end of 2021, more than 26,000 asylum seekers were living in hotel accommodation while they awaited decisions on their migration status, according to a report from the Refugee Council. The Home Office said this costs taxpayers almost £5m a day. Although hotel accommodation is supposed to be temporary, more than 300 people have been living in hotel rooms for a year, and nearly 3,000 for more than six months.
The Linton-on-Ouse scheme proposed that men seeking asylum would be sent to the centre while their applications were processed on-site, with the aim that no one would live on the base for more than six months.
People would not be detained at the centre and would be free to come and go, although a curfew and a security system – including CCTV, security guards and roaming patrols – were expected.
Questions will be raised over how much the Home Office has already spent on the plans. Hambleton district council launched a legal challenge in June.
Although Sunak and Truss have opposed the plans for Linton-on-Ouse, both have publicly backed proposals to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
A government spokesperson it was “steadfastly committed to tackling illegal migration” adding: “The government will continue to identify appropriate sites for Greek-style asylum reception centres.”
