Asylum Seekers: Wethersfield

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question; there is a net increase of seven so far. The Government’s manifesto commitment is to reduce the use of hotels and get rid of them in full during this Parliament. We are doing that by increasing the volume of asylum processing. There were 10,000 processed this month, compared with 1,000 a month when the noble Lord was in office. Since July 5, we have removed 9,400 people by deportation—a 19% increase since the noble Lord was in office. I think he needs to reflect on the fact that we have had four months in office and we have made an impact. We have closed “Bibby Stockholm”, decommissioned Scampton, put in place a £700 million saving on the Rwanda scheme and put in place new border security to stop boats in the first place. Please will noble Lord reflect on that and give credit to this Government for their actions?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con)]

My Lords, I wonder whether I can take the Minister back to Wethersfield. It is a village I used to live in, so I know that it is not at all suitable for asylum seekers. Not only is it unfair to the community, it is very unfair to the people on the site, which is some way from the village. The Government were committed to closing Wethersfield; when will they do so?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Well, let me remind the noble Lord that Wethersfield was opened on 21 March 2024, with an order laid in the name of the Home Secretary at the time—one James Cleverly. The starting point of the site was with the previous Government, which had planning permission for 1,700 places. This Government now has 580, which is capped, with the potential to look at a phased increase to a maximum of 800. We are trying to reduce the reliance on asylum. I cannot give the noble Lord a commitment on the site at this point, but the Government’s direction of travel and intention is to reduce the reliance on sites such as this. As he says, it is a very isolated site, in a very isolated part of Essex, and that should be reflected on, along with the other issues that he and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester raised.