Inverness barracks asylum seeker plan dropped, says MP

A scheme to house up to 300 male asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness have been dropped by the UK government, according to a Highland MP.

The Home Office originally wanted to move people into the barracks by early December and use the site for 12 months, but the plans were delayed.

Angus MacDonald, Lib Dem MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, said he has been told by UK Border Security Minister Alex Norris that the plan has been dropped.

The UK Government wanted use the site as part of drive to close asylum hotels, which led to campaigns in support and in opposition.

MacDonald said: “This is the right outcome, and it is a result of the strength of feeling shown by residents, and by the military families connected to Cameron Barracks who made their concerns heard from the very start.”

He added: “There was also a strong local feeling that the site itself was simply too close to the city centre, schools and residential areas.

“The sense of closing asylum hotels in town centres in the South of England while opening an Inverness asylum barracks similarly poorly located defied logic.”