Keeping illegal migrants in Army barracks costs even more than asylum hotels

Housing illegal migrant in Army barracks costs more than asylum hotels, new figures have revealed.

Use of the controversial Crowborough site which housed 350 asylum seekers at the end of May has been the subject of frequent protests.

And now, Home Office officials have now said it cost taxpayers £7.1million through its first four months, meaning the cost of housing an asylum seeker at the military base was £160 per night.

The average cost of housing migrants in hotels is £144 per night.

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Clearsprings Ready Homes, the Home Office contractor running the site, said 480 migrants are living in Crowborough, and the Government aims to increase capacity up to 540 by the end of the 12-month contract.

Home Office Minister Alex Norris said he expected the nightly cost to fall to about £135 by the end of the year, which he managed to sell as a £9 saving compared to hotels.

Mr Norris said the decision to use military sites, including Crowborough and the former base at Wethersfield, was "not purely a cost calculation".

The aim of using such sites was to deter migrants crossing the Channel and "security advantages" that hotels did not have, he said.

He told MPs: "The commitment we have made and our belief is that these types of sites should tread as lightly as possible on the local community’s lives."

"The value proposition is significant in this, too, not least in driving demand down," he added.

Labour MP Chris Murray, who leads the scrutiny of asylum accommodation, has urged Shabana Mahmood to rip up the 10-year contracts signed with the firms responsible for putting migrants up.

Mr Murray has said the Home Office should replace existing agreements with an incentive-based model where local authorities are paid to build housing stock.

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The money would then be used to convert houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) to be used by asylum seekers, while new homes would be built for current locals.

He told The Times: "There is a wide network of social housing providers and housing associations who are looking for the quid pro-quos here. You’re not going to get it uniform across the whole country.

"But where there are places we can innovate and fund local authorities, why would we give that £15 billion to a private company and not a council or a housing association if they were able to provide that?"

Contract costs for asylum seeker housing have tripled to more than £15billion, largely caused by an increased use of hotels.

Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels - but 20,885 migrants still live in taxpayer-funded suites.

Last month, the leader of community group Crowborough Says No told GB News "we are out protesting every single week".

Organiser Gaz said locals in the East Sussex town were "absolutely distraught", adding that migrant behaviour was only controlled due to the community's protestations.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not recognise these figures. We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into basic accommodation including ex-military sites. This is an important step in ending the perception you can arrive in the UK illegally and be put up in a hotel.

"We have already seen results. The population of asylum seekers in hotels has fallen by 35 per cent in the last year and by 63 per cent from the peak under the previous government. Overall asylum costs have already fallen by nearly £1 billion since this government was elected."

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