THE Ministry of Defence “stitched up” the Home Secretary by scuppering plans to house hundreds of asylum seekers at a former RAF base in Yorkshire, GB News can reveal.
An official statement is due from the Home Office shortly, but it is understood that the Ministry of Defence has withdrawn permission for the Home Office to use the base at Linton-on-Ouse.
GB News home and security editor Mark White said: “I’ve been speaking to the campaign group. They’re absolutely delighted, but of course that victory comes because of the Ministry of Defence pulling out of something that was agreed.
“Let’s put no finer point on it, the Home Secretary has been stitched up by her colleagues in the Ministry of Defence.
“As I understand it, the Ministry of Defence signed up to this deal in December of last year, a cross-government deal to allow this base to be used by the Home Office.
“Now, at the 11th hour, because the first asylum seekers were due in next month, they have withdrawn the permission to use the base.
“Not only does that put the Home Office in a real predicament in terms of where do we house thousands of asylum seekers.
“This was part of our plan, we’re looking for other sites as well, but in addition to that of course they had carried out preparatory work on that base, they’d had officials up there, making sure that the accommodation was right for them.
“So they’ve already spent some considerable money in trying to prepare the base for use by asylum seekers.
He added: “The [immigration] policy that was announced with great fanfare in April by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel is now in tatters. That is not an overstatement.”
Villagers in Linton launched a high profile campaign to halt the plans when they were announced in April.
Locals said the plans to house up to 1,500 men at the base would destroy village life and could jeopardise the safety of local people.
Hambleton District Council, the local authority in the area, prompted a temporary halt to the proposals when it announced possible legal action if the Home Office continued with its plans.
Speaking on GB News in May, Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, claimed the plans could “treble the size of the village”.
Mr Hollinrake said: “I think it’s a disgraceful choice of site, I think the Home Office has looked at the site, the accommodation as an RAF base, I think the accommodation there could be suitable for purpose.
“But the site itself is entirely unsuitable.”
The proposals formed part of the Government’s renewed drive to deal with the growing crisis of Channel migrants which has now reached more than 18,500 so far this year.
Another controversial proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing has also been mired in legal challenges and shows no sign of being enacted any time soon.
