Doomed to fail? Labour’s asylum u-turn
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
The government has announced plans to move migrants out of hotels and into accommodation on military barracks. The same plan Labour opposed when put forward by the Conservatives in 2023. What’s behind the move and could it work?
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Guest: Matt Dathan, home affairs editor, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producer: Micaela Arneson.
Read more: Asylum seekers to be housed in military sites instead of hotels
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 0:06.2 | I'm Manvien Rana. |
| 0:09.5 | So today the government is announcing the first tranche of sites. |
| 0:13.1 | We will set up to provide basic accommodation at scale. |
| 0:18.0 | In Westminster, it's a case of deja vu all over again. |
| 0:24.7 | The government will use military sites being disposed of in Essex and Lincolnshire |
| 0:31.0 | and a separate site in East Sussex. |
| 0:34.6 | It's March 2023, the Conservative Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick |
| 0:39.4 | is on his feet telling Parliament about the government's cunning new wees to house migrants. |
| 0:46.1 | These will be scaled up over the coming months and will collectively provide accommodation |
| 0:50.9 | to several thousand asylum seekers. |
| 0:54.4 | The response from Labour was damning. |
| 0:59.6 | And Deputy Speaker, today's statement is an admission of failure. |
| 1:04.6 | Well, that was then. |
| 1:07.4 | Two and a half years later, and Labour, now in government, |
| 1:10.5 | has performed an extraordinary |
| 1:13.0 | vault fast. |
| 1:15.0 | We believe that these bases can provide adequate accommodation for asylum seekers. |
| 1:20.7 | This isn't luxury accommodation by any means, but it's adequate for what is required. |
| 1:27.1 | But some analysts are saying Labour's U-turn |
| 1:29.3 | could end up costing the taxpayer even more. |
| 1:38.3 | The story today, from hotel beds to military barracks. |
... |
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