Labour ministers are preparing to convert military sites into temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, but officials and watchdogs warn the move could cost more than existing migrant hotels and raise health and safety concerns.
New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out plans in the coming days to use military land and modular accommodation to replace controversial asylum hotels, government sources said. Allies of Mahmood told media she viewed the decision as "a question of public confidence" rather than purely a financial issue and would be "more than happy to fight it out in the courts if she has to," according to reports.
Ministers have already tasked military planners to work with the Home Office's Border Security Command to survey sites and identify where prefabricated modular units could be installed, officials said. The move is part of a wider push to shut down asylum hotels, which the government has blamed for disorder and local tension in some areas.
But multiple cost reviews and watchdog reports caution that military conversions may be more expensive than staying with the hotel estate. Current spending on migrant hotels was reported at about £5.77 million per day, and senior figures warned that the expense of refurbishing or adapting military property, plus associated bespoke services, could surpass that figure. A National Audit Office investigation into four large sites under the previous government found those projects cost £46 million more than the roughly £3 billion already spent on hotels at the time.
Previous attempts to use defence sites have also overrun budgets. A Conservative-era project to convert two military sites into asylum accommodation ended up costing 12 times its original budget, officials said. In addition to cost overruns, officials and inspectors have flagged health and safety risks on some bases, including asbestos, land contaminated by military-grade chemicals and the presence of unexploded ordnance in former training areas.
The location of many military bases is another logistical hurdle. Several sites are distant from public transport, medical services and schools, meaning the Home Office could need to arrange costly transport and on-site support to meet legal duties to provide a minimum standard of care and assistance to people seeking asylum.
Legal and welfare problems have previously emerged at military sites used to house asylum seekers. In March, the High Court found the Home Office had acted unlawfully by housing three vulnerable asylum seekers at the former RAF Wethersfield base. The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration had issued repeated warnings about disorder at the site, including violence, and health professionals raised concerns about the suitability of the accommodation for people with mental health needs. Inspectors recorded 14 suicide attempts at Wethersfield over a six-month period last year.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the Ministry of Defence and Home Office were reviewing all previously considered sites, including RAF Scampton, which had been part of a shelved Conservative plan to house migrants. "The Prime Minister wants all asylum hotels closed, as do I, as does the British public," Pollard said, adding that a military planning team had been deployed into Border Security Command to identify where temporary but "adequate" accommodation could be stood up so that hotel placements could be wound down.
The renewed interest in military land has provoked local opposition in some communities. The proposed closure of asylum hotels has already triggered protests in towns including Epping, Chichester, Cheshunt and Bournemouth. In Epping, public anger intensified after the Court of Appeal set aside a lower-court injunction that had temporarily blocked the Home Office from housing 138 asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel beyond September 12. Lawyers acting for the Home Office argued that shutting the hotel would set a dangerous precedent that could encourage other councils to seek similar injunctions.
A Home Office spokesperson said the department had "learnt a lot of lessons from the previous government's experiments with military land," and that any new proposals would take past experience into account. Officials stressed that assessments would include environmental and structural surveys, and that where contamination or hazard risks were identified, remediation would be planned before occupation.
Labour faces a political dilemma after having previously criticised the Conservatives' use of military bases to house asylum seekers and campaigned to close sites including RAF Wethersfield in Essex and Napier Barracks in Kent. Party pledges to end the use of those bases were not fully implemented, and ministers now argue that standing up temporary accommodation on selected sites would allow the government to close more asylum hotels more quickly.
Campaigners for asylum seekers and some local authorities have urged the government to prioritise safe, long-term solutions and to avoid decisions that could replicate past failings. The Home Office plans are expected to be published in the coming days, with officials and legal teams preparing for potential judicial and public scrutiny as the government seeks to balance cost, capacity and compliance with welfare obligations.