Bungling Tories spent over £15million on contaminated jail website in failed asylum plan

Bungling Tories wasted over £15million buying a contaminated former prison to house asylum seekers after ignoring advice.

A damning report found Robert Jenrick signed off on the £15.4million purchase of the Northeye site in Bexhill-on-Sea, Essex despite warnings of “significant” risk. This was more than double the £6.3million it had sold for less than a year earlier.

Home Office chiefs ignored advice and took shortcuts before Mr Jenrick, now Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Justice Secretary, decided to go ahead last March. The National Audit Office (NAO) report found it would also cost between £1.1million and £3.6million to carry out crucial work before 1,400 asylum seekers could be moved there.

The site remains empty and may have to be sold for housing. Today’s report into the Northeye fiasco is the latest in a string of similar asylum failures under the Tories.

Last March the NAO found £500,000 was wasted on barges that couldn’t be used. And £2.9million was spent on abandoned plans to move people to a former RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs Parliament’s public accounts committee, said: “Once again, rushed and misjudged decision-making has resulted in the Home Office overpaying for an asylum accommodation site that is not fit for purpose.

“I am concerned that the Home Office deviated from standard practice, overlooked warnings about the condition of the site and lacked expertise to properly oversee the purchase of Northeye.”

The NAO report found no business case was put together ahead of the purchase, which was agreed last March and finally went through in September 2023. It said the Home Office was under “significant pressure” to find sites after Rishi Sunak announced he wanted to cut hotel use and clear the asylum backlog.

Last year the Government was spending more than £8million a day on hotel accommodation.