Permission granted for huge asylum camp in Oxfordshire

I just find the whole thing very funny for the people, the residents of Bicester. Funny? Funny, because they vote Lib Dem. Isn't Lib Dem policy to welcome immigrants? To welcome immigrants? That's what they voted for. Now they've got it. It's on their doorstep. It's a problem now for them, isn't it? We're going to get some reaction from Reform UK in just a moment. But first, let's speak to Callum Miller. He is a Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, and that includes the MOD Bicester barracks. Callum, thank you for joining us at such short notice. Thank What is your reaction to the decision by Angela Rayner today? At one level, I'm not surprised. It has been very clear the government was determined to you steamroller this proposal ahead. But another, I'm genuinely disappointed. They opened this very up to public consultation after I lobbied the Prime Minister to do so. 3,177 people objected. One person supported it. much. So all of Andy Burnham's stuff from when he launched Number 10 North about Whitehall getting out of the way and letting decisions happen at a local level doesn't count for much on this particular occasion. The question I'm asking our listeners tonight is if you don't think that asylum seekers should be housed in hotels, if you don't think they should be housed in military barracks, where should they be housed? Well, I think there's a really specific point to make about this site, Ian, which is that we're not talking about barracks here. There are actually two barracks on MOD Bicester, but they are filled with soldiers doing their job defending our country. This is a site that was used for storing materiel for the army. All it's got to speak for itself is a piece of hard standing. And as the report behind the government's decision makes clear, there's not water supplied to the site, there's no electricity supplied to the site, and there's no housing on the site and my estimates are that building that would cost in excess of of £270 million before the first person moved in. So my real concern is that this is just a really inappropriate site and a massive waste of taxpayer money to set something up in pursuit of the government's policy objective when actually it's an incredibly expensive choice. Let me just play to you a part of a phone call that I had a few minutes ago from Sarah in East Ham. I've been speaking with my husband and just find the whole thing very funny for the people, the residents of Bicester. Funny? Funny, because they vote Lib Dem, they've got a Lib Dem MP, Lib Dem council as well, isn't it? It is, yes. Isn't Lib Dem policies welcome immigrants? Welcome immigrants. That's what they voted for. Now they've got it. It's on their doorstep. Well, I doubt any of them voted Lib Dem because they thought, oh, well, the Lib Dems would then support sort of this sort of thing happening. I mean, people don't vote on one issue, do they? No, that's the reality of their vote. That's the reality, because Lib Dems make it very clear that they're all about pro-immigration, pro-immigrants. That's the reality of what they voted for, and it's now borne fruit. They are now hoisted by their own petards. You voted Lib Dems. Lib Dems are very vocal. You say they don't have just one policy. That's the forefront of their policies. Welcome immigrants. They voted that. They haven't just voted it once. They voted a government, an MP. They voted for local councillors as well. Now it's borne fruit. Suddenly it's a problem. Maybe they think twice now about who they put their X in when they're going to the voting booth next time. I think the whole thing is so hootingly funny. They deserve to have these immigrants on their doorstep because that's what they voted for. What's your message to Sarah, Callum? Like I would say to Sarah, with all humility, Liberal Democrats, like everybody else, are deeply concerned that the last Conservative government allowed the number of people waiting for asylum decisions to get completely out of control. And we, like every other right-thinking person in our country, think that we should have a much more orderly and managed process for those arriving in this country. There's a lot of propaganda in social media in particular, making the argument that Liberal Democrats are in some way in favour of unregulated migration. It's just simply not true. been our policy and it's not something which we support today. We put forward sensible proposals that would actually bring down the number of people waiting for asylum. We've argued that the government should be investing, instead of wasting money on big projects like this, they should be investing in the people who would actually process asylum decisions and get back. down the huge numbers that built up under Boris Johnson and we've also argued that the small boats crossings have arisen since Brexit because we severed our data sharing agreements with the European Union so by rejoining the EU's migration and asylum pact we could share information about the people who were coming we'd have a much better idea of who was coming whether they had applied for asylum in other European countries and whether they had any criminal records that would make it a much more orderly system so you know with with all due respect I completely disagree with the But I come back to the question that I asked originally, if not here, then where? We've got to get the numbers, Danny, and... No, no, but let's deal with the situation as it is today, not how we would like it to be, because there are thousands of asylum seekers who need to be accommodated somewhere, and there will always be a council, whether it's a Liberal Democrat, Conservative, whatever, council who says, well, we're not here, this isn't right, but then they can't actually point out where they should be going. I think lots of people have discussed the options around the scale of these things. I know there are many people who are deeply concerned about very large sites. So I think there is a real concern about them being of the scale that is being proposed here. It creates huge community tensions and is very bad for those who are held on the site. Understandably, people are objecting to hotels. There have been, if we look at other forms of welcome to our country, we've seen the very successful Homes for Ukraine scheme. We've seen other schemes where communities have sponsored people. That has worked very well in Canada. We need to have a more creative look about how we manage this. But as I said, bringing order to the way in which people arrive in our country so they're not arriving in an undocumented way, as they have been ever since we tore up our agreements with the European Union, would make a huge difference to our ability to manage these arrivals. in a way that gives communities confidence about the people who might be living close to them. And just finally, what about the idea that one of our listeners has had as saying, well, instead of these being open camps, why not make them closed camps and have them guarded? I mean, you could call them prisons, I suppose then, but at least the local community might feel a bit safer. I've spoken at length with members of my local community who are concerned about what the implications of this site will be. It's interesting in the documentation that the Home Office are referring to it as a controlled site, but that alongside so many other aspects is one which hasn't actually been put forward in the detail. The planning application that Angela Rayner has approved today has a huge amount that still needs to be worked through, which is one of the reasons that I strongly believe it was a premature decision. Within that, the decision about how people will be allowed to come and go on the site, whether they will actually be bussed off the site to other locations, is a critical part of how it will be managed and how it will affect the local community. Callum, we appreciate you joining us at very short notice. Thank you very much. That's Callum Miller, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock. Well, Jamie McIver has joined us in the studio at very short notice, which we're very grateful for. Jamie, he's Reform UK spokesperson and a member of Essex County Council. What's your response to what Callum Miller said there? I mean, he's the local MP. He's clearly reflecting public opinion. What's your response to what he said? I find it really peculiar, Ian, because, you know, if I was the Member of Parliament, the number one concern on my mind would be the safety of women and girls. Women and girls are petrified by the fact... I mean, in Piddington, for example, they'll be outnumbered eight to one when it comes to the population now of that small... rural part of England and you know what I find really distressing is the more I think about this it occurs to me that actually this is almost an attack on the British way of life now. We're seeing small villages, small communities have these unvetted... Effectively invaders to our country, fighting age males just dumped in these small communities and people are supposed to just get on with it like that's perfectly normal. It's not. It is bad news and it's bad news for Piddington. And I feel so sorry for the decent people there who have been campaigning. In a very grown-up way, may I say, actually, a very effective nationwide now campaign, I think the whole country's heart has sunk this evening for the people of Piddington. And I'm concerned for their safety, especially for women and girls. Isn't there a problem here, though? Because if you talk in those terms, you're effectively saying that sort of 1,256, as you put them, young fighting-age men who are being dumped in that community, You're almost sort of saying, well, they're all a danger to that community. Now, you know from your own experience in Essex that there have been some very unfortunate cases from the Bell Hotel. We remember all of that. And I'm not minimising that at all. But to pretend that they're all going to be... People who pose a danger to the local residents of Pittington. I mean, that is an exaggeration. It's not actually, Ian, because the worst thing would be to assume that they're not. I mean, just follow the facts. We've had, I think, two Iranians convicted today, came on boats, have been convicted of spying for Iran. We've seen a young girl be raped horrifically. ...by an Afghan national in Nuneaton. We've got the example of Epping. There are examples like my friend Siobhan, whose daughter was murdered by an illegal migrant, stabbed in the head over 20 times. The reality is there is many examples of where these men have caused harm to the British people, women and girls. And so the idea that we could assume that it's actually not that big a deal, it is a big deal and it's a big deal for women. One person being a victim of crime as a result of illegal migrants coming to this country is one too many. The fact that these men will be able to walk around Pittington is just unacceptable. And it's unacceptable for the British state to knowingly put women and girls in danger in the way that they are. And I should point out, you're also a member of Epping Forest District Council. You were heavily involved in the campaigning against the Bell Hotels usage for housing asylum seekers. But let's come back again to the same question I put to Callum. in None of us want to be here but we are here that so therefore we have to deal with the situation as it is rather than the situation that we would like it to be and you can make plans for the future but you, as of November 2026 if they're not going to be housed in hotels if they're not going to be housed Adam. in military barracks Then you've got to tell us where you would house them, haven't you? Yeah, we would have them in secure detention centres and swiftly deport them from the United Kingdom. The minute they step foot in this country, we'll have them detected, detained and deported from the United Kingdom. But the law would prevent you from doing that, wouldn't it? No, because we're going to leave the ECHR. I'm talking about as of now, not after the next election, as of now. As of now, there is a Labour Party with a huge majority in the House of Commons. They can pass legislation to leave the ECHR, detain... But they're not going to do that, are they? So what should happen? Where should they be housed? Ideologically, this government doesn't mind this. That's what we're seeing. This government is not serious about stopping illegal immigration at all. They're saying what they've got to say to try and win back some Red Wall votes. I mean, to be fair to them, and as you know, I always like to be fair to them, they have cut. The number of people coming over the channel has been reduced. The number of people being deported has increased. The number of asylum seekers being processed has increased. So, I mean, I'm not pretending it's a perfect situation, but there is a bit of progress that's being shown. I think they're doing a much better job than the Conservatives did, but let's be very clear, a government that is serious about stopping illegal immigration isn't going around the country opening up huge facilities. to store illegal migrant men. They are not serious about this issue. They're trying to give the perception that they're serious. And ultimately, Ian, this comes down to being a safety issue. This is a massive safety issue for women and girls. And your listeners should know that in a reformed government, these people will be detected, detained and deported immediately. Thank you very much indeed, Jamie. That's Jamie McIver there.