Home Office to "look at military sites" for housing asylum seekers in bid to end use of hotels
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Military sites are being considered as a way of housing asylum seekers while their applications are processed, a defence minister has said.
Luke Pollard, minister of state in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), said bases with existing housing blocks or large areas of hard standing which could be used for temporary accommodation would be considered. Other non-military sites are also on the table, as the government tries to reduce the number of hotels being used to house migrants whose asylum seeker applications are being worked on in a large backlog.
The Labour politician told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “We’ve deployed a military planning team into Border Security Command and the Home Office to look at military and non-military sites, about where we can help build temporary but adequate accommodation that enables us to transfer those folks from asylum hotels into that temporary accommodation so we can close even more hotels. We’ve closed 25 in the last year, but the Prime Minister is clear he wants every single one of them closed.”
Around 1,097 people arrived in the UK in 17 boats on Saturday, bringing the total in 2025 so far to 30,100 – a record for this point in a year. The figure is 37 per cent up on this point last year (22,028) and also 37 per cent higher than at this stage in 2023 (21,918), according to analysis by the Press Association.
People smuggling gangs have been blamed, with newly appointed home secretary Shabana Mahmood branding figures as “utterly unacceptable”, adding that a deal agreed last month to return migrants to France will begin “imminently”. Various protests have been held outside migrant accommodation over the summer. The largest in the Portsmouth area was in Waterlooville, where asylum seekers were set to temporarily housed in London Road. The policy was shelved after intense criticism.
Mr Pollard added: “The Ministry of Defence has expertise that no other Government department has and so that’s precisely why we’re using the military planners – those experts that delivered so much of the additional support during Covid, for instance, that respond to emergencies nationwide – we’re using those skilled people to support this effort, and certainly getting on top of this issue is a Government priority.”
Campaigners criticised the move to expand the use of military sites, saying the policy had been a failure. Refugee council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “The solution is faster, fairer decisions and safe housing in communities, so refugees can work, study and rebuild their lives,”
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Labour MP and chair of the defence select committee, was cocnerned about the proposal. He said in parliament: “I personally do not feel that operational responsibility for this should fall on our armed forces. The experience of Operation Isotrope under the Boris Johnson government was widely criticised for causing confusion and straining our already pressured military. This serves as a clear warning. Can the minister make ironclad assurances that any future MoD involvement will be strictly limited, clearly defined, and not strain our pressured military.”
Mr Pollard responded: “The MoD is part of the cross government response to small boats. We’re stepping up our support to assist the Home Office. The Home Office remain the lead department for this. As every government department can contribute something to this effort, it’s right the MoD does so. We continue to protect the nation and deliver the changes laid out in the Strategic Defence Review. That remains our number one priority, to keep our country safe.”