Home Office considers moving asylum seekers into military barracks

The Home Secretary is reportedly set to announce the use of Ministry of Defence sites to house asylum seekers, as Lewis Warner reports

Newly-appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to unveil plans to move asylum seekers from hotels into military barracks, following a wave of protests outside hotels housing migrants.

Mahmood is reportedly set to announce the use of Ministry of Defence sites to house people as the government seeks to harden its immigration policy.

An estimated 1,000 people arrived in the UK by small boat on Saturday, and French authorities said 24 people were rescued while trying to cross the Channel.

Dozens of asylum hotels are expected to close after they became the focal point of several demonstrations in recent months.

One Government source said “nothing is off the table” for Ms Mahmood as she assumes her new brief, which puts her in charge of borders and asylum policy.

Defence Secretary John Healey told ITV News: “We’re looking at military sites and non-military sites. We’re looking at the options of temporary accommodation.

“Our overriding priority is to close the asylum hotels, expensive asylum hotels – we had 400 of them opened up under the previous government – the numbers are coming down but not fast enough.”

She has previously signalled a willingness to look at human rights reform within domestic law.

Healey told broadcasters the new home secretary will be “just as tough” as her predecessor Yvette Cooper on Palestine Action, a campaign group which has been proscribed as a terror organisation by the government.

On Saturday, more than 425 people were arrested at a protest by the group’s supporters in London.

The Home Office is set to appeal against the High Court ruling allowing Palestine Action’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, to proceed with a legal challenge against the Government over the group’s ban.

Newly appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood / Credit: PA

It comes after the Prime Minister carried out a major reshuffle, including wide-ranging changes at the Home Office, following Angela Rayner’s resignation.

Former borders minister Dame Angela Eagle and former policing minister Dame Diana Johnson were moved to other departments in the clear-out, while former home secretary Yvette Cooper has become Foreign Secretary.

Former industry minister Sarah Jones will become policing minister, a brief she held in opposition. Mike Tapp, the Dover MP from Labour’s 2024 intake, and Alex Norris will also join Mahmood’s team.

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones earlier denied that the Government was in crisis and insisted Starmer now has the “strongest team” in place around the Cabinet table following Rayner’s departure.

He ruled out the prospect of an early election amid opposition claims that the upheaval could open up splits within Labour and collapse the Prime Minister’s authority.

Jones rejected the idea Cooper had been moved out of the Home Office because she was failing to control immigration, adding she would be “brilliant” in her new role as the UK’s top diplomat.