PM reiterates asylum pledge over RAF Scampton

The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he stands by his commitment that asylum seekers will not be housed at the former RAF Scampton site in Lincolnshire.

It comes after the government said it was looking at expanding the use of military sites, as it sought to move people out of hotels.

The base, near Lincoln, had been earmarked by the previous Conservative government to accommodate migrants, but the plans were scrapped by the Labour administration last September.

Sir Keir previously said it was "disrespectful" to use the site, once home to the Dambusters squadron, as an asylum centre without the consent of the local community.

In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Sir Keir said: "I made a commitment on Scampton when I was in opposition, and I stand by that.

"I also want to go further than that because the reason we are having this discussion is because tens of thousands of cases were not processed by the last government.

"We are working through those at pace," he added.

Earlier this month, Luke Pollard, minister of state at the Ministry of Defence, refused to rule out using RAF Scampton.

He said "every site" would be considered including those "visited by the Home Office in the past" as the government looks to stop the use of hotels to house people coming to the UK.

The move to use the site to accommodate asylum seekers has been met with strong opposition.

West Lindsey District Council announced a development plan for the site in March 2023, which included proposals to transform the site into a business, aerospace and heritage centre.

The mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Dame Andrea Jenkyns said the "whole community would be pleased" by the prime minister's promise.

She told BBC Radio Lincolnshire: "The combined authority, myself as mayor and West Lindsey District Council have a few options to fully develop the site so local people can benefit from jobs and growth.

"My message to the prime minister would be to break the deadlock, get this moving and allow us to develop RAF Scampton."

Jackie Brockway, leader of West Lindsey District Council, said a lack of straight answers about the site from the government had been "mystifying".

"These [redevelopment] plans are a win-win situation for the government because it will be a massive economic, commercial, societal development," she added.

Sarah Carter from the Save Our Scampton campaign group said she did not feel reassured by the prime minister's comments.

"They've backtracked on everything they say - I can't trust what he [the prime minister] is telling us now.

"After getting in, the very next day... they cancelled Rwanda, and they made us wait eight weeks before they confirmed they weren't going to use Scampton," she said.

Ms Carter added that she wanted to hear it from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Pollard that Scampton would not be used.

She said the government had "another think coming" if they revisited the plan.

"We are ready for you," she added.

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