11 hours ago
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Good morning. The Home Office confirmed last night that it wants to use two barracks, in Scotland and southern England, to house around 900 male asylum seekers. The two sites are Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex and ministers want the men to start moving in from the end of next month. Kevin Rawlinson has more details here.
In some respects, this announcement can be added to the list of government U-turns; only last summer the government was saying it wanted to end the use of military sites for asylum seekers.
This morning Luke Pollard, a defence minister, has been on the airwaves. He confirmed that Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp were being lined up as accommodation for asylum seekers and he told the BBC that this was about seeing if this approach works.
Some bases are small, some bases are larger in terms of numbers, but I think the conversation around the bases that are in the news today is about proving this concept, is about seeing whether this works. We believe that these bases can provide adequate accommodation for asylum seekers.
Yesterday the Commons home affairs committee warned that housing asylum seekers in barracks, not hotels, could end up being more expensive. Pollard suggested that this would be worth it given the extent of public opposition to asylum seekers being housed in hotels.
We’re looking at what’s possible and, in some cases, those bases may be a different cost to hotels, but I think we need to reflect the public mood on this asylum hotels need to close.
We are likely to hear more on this from Keir Starmer, who is doing a visit this morning where he will be speaking to the media.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is still in Saudi Arabia, where she is speaking at an investment conference.
Morning: Keir Starmer is on a visit in the north-west of England, linked to the deal he signed yesterday to sell Typhoon jets to Turkey.
11am: The Reform MP Danny Kruger holds a press conference to announce plans to cut spending on the civil service.
11.30am: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.45pm: Starmer chairs cabinet.
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