A failed plan to use a former RAF site for asylum accommodation has made a loss of more than £48million of British taxpayer cash.
The Government axed the controversial proposals for the RAF Scampton site in Lincolnshire in September last year.
The Home Office said at the time the site did not “represent value for money”.
Before the plans – which sparked protests among residents – were thrown out, the Government had already spent £60million on the project.
In its recently published annual report and accounts for 2024 to 2025, the Home Office said the site has made a loss of £48.5million.
The report states: “RAF Scampton, the former Ministry of Defence site in Lincolnshire, was planned to be used for asylum accommodation.
“Plans were axed as the assessment found the site was not value for money for the taxpayer. This has resulted in a constructive loss of £48.5million.”
The Home office said the cost of exiting the site was “minimal” compared to the millions more which were needed to keep it running another three years.
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The former Ministry of Defence site had been earmarked for asylum accommodation until the plans were axed last year
A spokesperson said: “A review carried out in September 2024 determined that, due to decisions taken by the previous government, the costs associated with the Scampton site had surged well beyond initial estimates and no longer delivered value for money for taxpayers.
“The cost of exiting this site was minimal compared to the projected minimum £180million required to keep it running until March 2027.”
William Yarwood, from campaign group TaxPayer’s Alliance, described the financial loss as “utterly indefensible”.
The media campaigns manager told GB News: “The Home Office has a clear disregard for taxpayer’s cash.
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has vowed to close asylum hotels by 2029
“To blow millions of pounds and end up with nothing to show for it is utterly indefensible.
“Ministers talk tough on cutting costs and controlling immigration, but decisions like this suggest a total lack of grip on both.”
In the year 2024/2025, the Government spent a total £4billion was spent on asylum support.
This was a reduced figure compared to in 2023/2024, when £4.7billion was spent.
The Home Office said last month asylum seekers who are moved from hotels into suitable alternative accommodation must take it or risk losing housing and support in a bid to crack down on “non-compliance”.
Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said: “We are working to close hotels, restore order, and put fairness and value for money at the heart of our asylum system.
“This Government is making those necessary decisions to protect the taxpayer and uphold the integrity of our borders.”
It followed a number of recent protests outside asylum hotels including near the Bell Hotel in Essex on July 17, which has so far led to 23 arrests.
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Protesters gather in Epping outside an asylum hotel in July
Eight officers were injured and a number of police vehicles were damaged as missiles were thrown during the demonstration.
Epping Forest District Council members unanimously voted in favour of a motion calling on the Government to “to immediately and permanently close” the hotel “for the purposes of asylum processing” following the unrest.
The protest was sparked after Ethiopian asylum seeker, who was believed to have been housed at the hotel, appeared in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl just days after arriving in Britain.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has vowed to close down hotels, used by roughly 32,000 asylum seekers, by the end of the current Parliament in 2029.
