Dame Priti Patel takes purpose at authorities’s ‘alarming and staggering lack of readability’ over plans to deal with asylum seekers at Essex RAF base

Former dwelling secretary Dame Priti Patel has accused her former division of being “evasive” and “secretive” over how lengthy it plans to make use of a former RAF base to deal with asylum seekers.

In a letter to her successor Suella Braverman and the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, earlier on Monday, Dame Priti wrote that the “lack of clarity” over how lengthy the federal government plans to deal with asylum seekers on the former base in Wethersfield, Essex, “has been alarming and staggering”.

The web site close to Dame Priti’s Witham constituency has been earmarked to deal with 1,700 asylum seekers by the autumn as a part of plans to cut back spending on accommodations, with the primary residents having arrived in July.

RAF Wethersfield is considered one of quite a lot of former army websites earmarked for housing asylum seekers, alongside the Bibby Stockholm barge which was evacuated on Friday after legionella bacteria was discovered within the water provide.

In the letter posted to X, previously Twitter, the previous dwelling secretary stated that when it was introduced on 29 March that the location could be used for asylum seekers, the size of time it might be used was not acknowledged.

She stated studies the location would should be used for 5 years to realize worth for cash for the taxpayer was “concerning”, and stated “no clarity has been provided” in subsequent discussions between Home Office officers and native companions.

Citing three written parliamentary questions on the subject submitted again in June, she stated the failure to offer direct solutions “gives the impressions the Home Office is being evasive” and “suggests that the government is being secretive about its intentions”.

She added: “Clear answers now need to be provided by the Home Office and the government must be transparent rather than evasive. The lack of clarity has been alarming and staggering.”

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A Home Office spokesman stated: “Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will provide cheaper and more orderly, suitable accommodation for those arriving in small boats whilst helping to reduce the use of hotels.

“These lodging websites will home asylum seekers in fundamental, secure and safe lodging as they await a call on their declare.

“In the case of Wethersfield, the Home Office has obtained planning permission to make use of the location for 12 months.

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“We understand the concerns of local communities and will work closely with councils and key partners to manage the impact of using these sites, including liaising with local police to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place.”

The division stated it supposed to answer to Dame Priti’s letter to the house secretary “in due course”.