A huge base used to house migrants is set to expand after illegal Channel crossings surge this summer. Despite Labour promising to close the accommodation last year, the camp will now increase in size by more than 50%. The former RAF Wethersfield base near Braintree in Essex is set to be enlarged from 800 people to 1,225, the Home Office has confirmed.
Prior to his election, Sir Keir Starmer vowed to close down the migrant camp and use hotels to house asylum seekers. However, due to the huge surge in small boat crossings this year, the number of migrants reaching the UK has led Labour to increase the capacity that the base will hold. The Home Office has said that extra beds can be used to help manage short-term pressures across the wider asylum accommodation estate.
The number of migrants on dinghies reaching Dover this year has ballooned by 45%, with more than 24,000 people entering the UK so far.
A Government spokesperson said: “If called upon, the contingency bed spaces will only be utilised on a temporary basis until such time as the wider accommodation estate is able to manage demand, and the number accommodated at Wethersfield will be reduced back down to 800 bed spaces as soon as possible thereafter.
“Any increase in inflow onto the site to use contingency bed spaces will be gradual (increasing the maximum inflow from the normal 60 per week to 100 per week) and subject to the same rigorous procedures and reviews as for regular occupancy inflow.”
The disused RAF base is located just 30 miles away from Epping which has seen a series of protests due to the Bell Hotel housing asylum seekers.
Frustrated families took to the streets after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a 38-year-old asylum seeker from Ethiopia, was charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl – he denied the charge.
The Home Office has since been urged by the Conservatives, Epping District Council and the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner to close the hotel and move the migrants.