RAF Scampton asylum costs were wrong - Home Office

Sir Matthew Rycoft admitted the estimated set-up cost for RAF Scampton was incorrect

The Home Office has admitted its first estimated cost to set up an asylum centre at RAF Scampton fell "woefully short" of what was needed.

The initial price was set at £5m but it has now been revealed the cost is closer to £27m.

During questions from the Public Accounts Committee, Dame Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, asked Sir Matthew Rycroft, permanent under-secretary of state at the Home Office, why the government got it "so wrong".

In response, Sir Matthew accepted the criticism and explained they had been "operating at pace".

He told the committee: "I first want to accept that we did get the figures so, so wrong.

"There was a national emergency, there was a sense we should be doing, on this issue, what our colleagues during Covid had done in terms of pace of procurement and things like that.

"We decided to press on as quickly as we could to increase the stock of total accommodation available to the UK government.

"There wasn’t other accommodation types available, because all of the existing private rental market, even hotels, were already being used," he concluded.

The government has planned to house up to 800 asylum seekers at the former RAF site

The plans, announced last year, have led to protests and legal challenges about the suitability of the site, the impact on a £300m regeneration project and the site's heritage.

Earlier this month, a letter sent by Housing Minister Lee Rowley to West Lindsey District Council revealed the site was contaminated with unexploded bombs.

Up to 800 asylum seekers will be housed at the Lincolnshire site, with the first expected to arrive later this month.

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