The Home Office is considering sending more than 1,000 asylum seekers to RAF Barnham in Suffolk while their applications are processed. The prospect has stirred unrest among residents, prompting calls for referendums on whether asylum seekers should be housed in military camps. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, has given her backing to these votes, describing them as “a good way of showing the strength of public feeling.”
Badenoch spoke to the BBC ahead of the Conservative Party conference, saying the referendums reveal that “people are asking for help” and that the party is listening. “We have got a plan – a borders plan. Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, basically making sure that we take control of our streets and communities,” she said.
The plans to use military bases for temporary accommodation come as the government looks for alternatives to costly hotel stays. The use of RAF Barnham, a military site, has been met with protests and concern among local residents, some of whom fear an increase in anti-social behaviour and crime. The Barnham parish council is considering an independence referendum in response. Any vote would be symbolic and would not affect governance.
Suffolk County Council’s Reform UK members have also called for a public referendum on housing asylum seekers at RAF Barnham. The Green Party opposition dismissed the proposal as an attempt to distract from Reform UK’s “own lack of policies,” while Labour argued that the council had “better things to spend its money on.”
Badenoch acknowledged the concerns of residents in nearby Essex, where Reform-run Essex County Council deployed security officers in Braintree, Chelmsford, and Colchester following the arrival of asylum seekers at the MDP Wethersfield camp. She said: “People are right to be concerned… but I don’t really know who their security officers are – I don’t think that’s the right way of doing these things.” She added that law enforcement should be carried out by police officers and promised a plan to bring more officers back to the streets.
Essex Police’s chief constable recently stated that crime linked to Wethersfield was “very low” and advised local people not to be worried. Badenoch responded, “This is what is said until something bad happens. The job of police officers is crime prevention, not waiting until the crime happens.”
When questioned about the absence of evidence connecting asylum seekers to increased crime, Badenoch pointed to a case last year involving a migrant resident of the Bell Hotel in Epping who was jailed for sexual assault. “We need to be very concerned about these people coming into our country, with no vetting,” she said.
The government has said the accommodation at military bases is temporary and cheaper than hotel alternatives. It does not record criminal offences by immigration status, but analysis by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford shows that foreign nationals in England and Wales are convicted at roughly the same rate as British nationals.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last week he was aware of residents’ concerns about the use of military bases and was open to making changes where possible.
Security guards have patrolled town centres near asylum seeker sites since 14 September as local authorities seek to reassure communities.
The debate over housing asylum seekers at RAF Barnham continues amid public demonstrations, council debates, and government assurances. The village’s potential independence referendum remains a symbolic gesture, while the county council’s proposed public vote on housing asylum seekers faces opposition on political and financial grounds.
According to Joy Online.
