Lib Dem MP left 'frustrated' at plans to house asylum seekers in small Bicester community: 'It's inappropriate!'

Callum Miller has declared that MoD Bicester is an "inappropriate site" for housing asylum seekers, following the announcement from the Labour Government to open three more sites.

Speaking to GB News, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock expressed his "frustration" with the Home Office for simply "moving asylum seekers from one site to another" and not tackling the problem.

The Government has confirmed plans to open three new sites for housing asylum seekers in Bicester, Suffolk and North Yorkshire.

They are also set to extend the housing of asylum seekers in the Crowborough and Wethersfield ex-military bases.

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Reacting to the plans, Mr Miller told GB News that the location is "not appropriate" for housing thousands of asylum seekers.

He said: "I spoke with a number of residents and chairs of parish councils last night, and they share my view that this is a really inappropriate site that's been proposed in MoD Bicester.

"MOD Bicester makes it sound like it's a Garrison that has got barracks that might be used for asylum seekers. In fact, that's not the case."

The Lib Dem MP explained: "The site that they're talking about is effectively a semi-derelict industrial site where over decades, the MoD have stored material.

"And I understand the Home Office are talking about putting in some modular buildings in order to house people two miles from the nearest shop, five miles from the nearest town, with nothing to do in the area."

Mr Miller stressed the concerns of local residents, particularly in a local village which has a population of just 370.

He said: "Understandably, local residents are deeply concerned about what it would mean to put 1,250 asylum seekers into that area, next to a village where the population's only 370.

"I think we need to think really carefully about all the different folk who are affected by this."

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Questioned by host Nana Akua on whether he believes locals will feel "safer" if the asylum seekers were "not allowed to leave" the site, Mr Miller disagreed.

He explained: "I'm concerned about the impacts on local residents, but I'm also concerned about the folk who are seeking asylum themselves.

"They have been granted the right to appeal for asylum, they're waiting for their hearings, we can't imprison them in a kind of open prison, that is not an appropriate way to treat these people."

The Lib Dem urged the Government to tackle the "core problem" instead of "moving asylum seekers to different expensive sites".

He stressed: "I think the real problem is that the Government is just moving people around from inappropriate and expensive locations and hotels to inappropriate and expensive locations on MoD sites.

"And what we need instead is the Government to do much more to stop the core problem, which is that the Conservatives and Labour have allowed the number of people waiting for their asylum hearings to go up exponentially, particularly under the Conservatives.

"The Government needs to do much, much more to invest in bringing that down by having more rapid hearings, so that they can be either allowed to start building lives in the United Kingdom or to be sent back to their home countries."

Border Security and Asylum Minister Alex Norris said: "We promised to close every asylum hotel and hand them back to communities, and that is exactly what we are doing.

"Twenty more hotels have closed, and hotel numbers have more than halved since their peak. Instead, we’re moving asylum seekers into ex-military sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last Government left us with.

"This is a system being brought back under control - and we will not stop until the job is done."

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