I’ve had some angry emails about the National Audit Office report government’s alternative plans for housing asylum seekers, having already evacuated 100 hotels. The NAO claims it will actually cost the taxpayer £46 million more than the hotels by accommodating those waiting for asylum decisions on barges or former RAF bases
This is a rather shoddy piece of analysis because it includes all the set-up costs rather than just comparing the running costs of hotels against the alternatives. A fair comparison of all the costs would need to be made over the entire lifetime of the usage, or reasonable assumptions about it.
Furthermore, the NAO has missed the political dimension of the policy. The public was scandalised at the use of hotels to accommodate people who had arrived here illegally and there is public demand for a more ‘spartan’ approach to the nature of the accommodation than which is commonly provided by hotels.
It is all very well for citizens of Ringwood and Fordingbridge emailing me to complain about the policy, when our New Forest towns have not had their hotels requisitioned to accommodate disproportionate concentrations of young male asylum seekers, as have so many less fortunate towns, with all the pressures on public services which follow.