£15m 'wasted' on migrant camp site

THE Home Office spent £15m buying a derelict prison contaminated with asbestos amid political pressure to stop housing migrants in hotels, according to Whitehall's spending watchdog.

The department cut corners and paid more than it needed to in its haste to acquire the Northeye site in Bexhill-on-Sea but this was "ultimately deemed unfit for its intended purpose due to contamination", the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

A report published yesterday shows the site was bought for around £6.3m by vendors Brockwell Group Bexhill Limited Liability Partnership in August 2022.

But the Home Office completed the sale in September 2023 for around £15.4m more than double what had been paid for the site 12 months earlier.