EXCLUSIVE: A Labour Minister has vowed that armed forces families homes will not be used to house asylum seekers.
Labour have pledged not to house asylum seekers in armed forces housing. (Image: Aa)
A Labour Minister has vowed that no military family housing will ever be used to house asylum seekers, insisting that accommodation for service personnel will remain entirely separate from sites considered for migrants. Speaking to the Daily Express, Louise Sandher-Jones, the Veterans and Personnel Minister, said that the Government’s plan to overhaul Armed Forces housing “will not involve” any bases being repurposed for asylum use.
Asked what assurances she could give to the public, the minister said: “This £9billion will be spent on a housing stock that is not under consideration to be used by asylum seekers or anybody that isn’t service personnel, so I can ensure that the £9billion will be focused on our service personnel and their families.”
She added: “I would say without a doubt that where the MoD estate might be being considered to house people seeking asylum that it’s absolutely not the kind of housing that we’re offering service personnel for permanent living.”
Her comments come after growing anger over the use of disused military bases such as Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough training camp in East Sussex, which have been earmarked to house asylum seekers despite opposition.
Ms Sandher-Jones’s remarks are the clearest yet that the MoD’s family housing stock, nine in every ten of which are earmarked for renovation under the new Defence Housing Strategy, will not form part of that system.
The £9billion scheme, announced earlier this week, promises the biggest upgrade to military housing in more than fifty years. More than 40,000 homes will be modernised, refurbished or rebuilt, with a further 100,000 new civilian and military homes planned on surplus defence land.
But the minister said the housing used for Armed Forces families is “not under consideration” for asylum accommodation and stressed that such properties would not be used.
Her intervention follows years of criticism over the condition of existing service homes, with reports of mould, damp and long delays for repairs. The Government says the new programme will deliver a “generational renewal” of the defence estate, focusing on energy efficiency, new kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems.
It also follows the Annington Homes deal, signed under the Conservatives, which returned 36,000 service family properties to public ownership, saving taxpayers around £600,000 a day. The savings, ministers say, are being reinvested directly into improving housing for military personnel.
Ms Sandher-Jones, a veteran herself, has previously spoken of experiencing “pretty shocking accommodation” during her time in service and said that repairing and upgrading family housing was central to improving morale and retention.
Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp warned Labour that “not a penny of the £9 billion to refurbish homes for military families should be spent on accommodation for asylum seekers.”
He added that Labour had “lost control of our borders” and said “that is why this Government is accommodating more illegal immigrants in hotels and other asylum accommodation than at the election. Only the Conservative Party has a serious, hard-edged plan to take control of our borders. Our BORDERS Plan will ban asylum claims for illegal entrants, leave the ECHR, and remove all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. Keir Starmer doesn’t have the backbone to do this.”
