Home Office blocking Napier Barracks visit by cross-party MPs

Need for access ‘more than pressing’ given slew of damning judgements and investigations relating to site

A High Court judge ruled this year that the site’s accommodation was not adequate (AFP)

The Home Office is blocking MPs from visiting the Napier Barracks asylum accommodation, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats has complained.

Tim Farron told the House of Commons this afternoon ministers had not responded to his request for a visit, having rejected an earlier one in September as well as a separate request by the home affairs committee.

Napier Barracks, in Folkestone in Kent, has become infamous for the poor conditions in which people are held. The former military site has failed to provide “a standard of living which was adequate for the health of” asylum seekers, the High Court ruled in June.

Mr Justice Linden said the Home Office had acted unlawfully in repurposing the site for asylum accommodation, and that the idea it was safe for habitation was “irrational”. However, the government is still housing people there.

Ministers are facing legal action over plans to continue using Napier Barracks for several more years.

Mr Farron has now raised a point of order in parliament to pile pressure on the government, saying the need for an in-person visit is now “more than pressing” and that he had heard nothing back from the Home Office.

A cross-party group of MPs, including the Conservative David Simmons and Labour’s Neil Coyle, has been pushing for access to Napier Barracks.

The group declined the Home Office’s previous offer of a video tour on the grounds they would not be able to conduct proper scrutiny. They asked again on 27 October and gave a deadline for response of 10 November.

Following Mr Farron’s address on Wednesday, the Commons speaker conceded that while invitation decisions rested with the government the use of Napier Barracks had become a matter of intense public debate.

Sir Lindsey Hoyle added: “Of course, I would always encourage the government to agree to such requests ... not least to ensure [MPs] are able to hold the government to account in a well-informed manner.

“I do not know any reason for refusal in this case ... At the very least I hope that Home Office ministers will discuss the matter properly with [Mr Farron].”

The Home Office told The Independent it would respond to the MPs’ request “in due course”.