MPs Blast 'Chaotic and Expensive' System, Citing 'Manifest Failure' in Government Contracts
A damning report from the Commons' home affairs select committee has found that the UK Home Office "squandered" billions of pounds on a "failed, chaotic and expensive" asylum accommodation system. MPs blasted the department's "incompetence" over its handling of the crisis, concluding there was a "manifest failure" to manage lucrative contracts with private companies.
The report states that this failure allowed private firms to make "excessive profits" from the Channel crisis. In one of its most scathing rebukes to date, the committee said the Home Office was "not up to this challenge" and demanded major, urgent changes.
Spiralling Costs and 'Incompetence'
The investigation revealed a catastrophic failure in financial planning. In 2019, the Home Office signed 10-year contracts with three companies—Serco, Clearsprings, and Mears—to provide asylum accommodation.
- Original Estimate: The contracts were initially projected to cost taxpayers £4.5 billion over the decade.
- Current Forecast: Officials now predict the final bill will spiral to £15.3 billion.
This financial black hole is attributed to the "chaotic" and unplanned overuse of hotels as contingency accommodation. The report identified a staggering difference in cost:
- Dispersal Accommodation: £23.25 per person, per night.
- Hotel Accommodation: £144.98 per person, per night.
According to the report, "The failure to plan... or to get a grip on the contracts as events arose, was chaotic, and led to significant costs to the taxpayer. We find this incompetence unacceptable."
'Excessive Profits' and No Accountability
The committee found that the contracts were drawn up so poorly that the Home Office is unable to impose financial penalties on providers for "performance failures" at migrant hotels and large-scale sites like Napier Barracks.
This, the report labels, is an "inexplicable and unacceptable failure of accountability."
Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley MP stated, "The Home Office has presided over a failing asylum accommodation system that has cost taxpayers billions of pounds." She added that the department "neglected the day-to-day management of these contracts."
Impact on Local Communities
The report also highlighted the negative social impact of the failed system. MPs found it "inexplicable" that the Home Office did not require accommodation providers to assess the impact on local areas before opening migrant hotels.
This lack of planning "damaged community cohesion," led to "unsustainable pressures" on local services, and allowed "misinformation and mistrust to grow."
'Failures of Leadership'
The blame for the fiasco was placed squarely on "failures of leadership at a senior level" within the HomeOffice. The report criticises senior civil servants who oversaw the contracts and their expansion, including Sir Philip Rutnam and his successor, Sir Matthew Rycroft.
However, an ex-Home Office source claimed that civil servants deliberately kept ministers from reviewing the contracts, stating, "These failures are entirely the responsibility of civil servants."
Dame Karen Bradley urged the government to "get a grip" on the system and "finally learn from its previous mistakes or it is doomed to repeat them" as contract break clauses approach next year.
Here we go again - 'lessons will be learned'. In the meantime, I would expect that further investigation will uncover possible corruption, backhanders, perhaps fraudulent activity, and potential profits for those involved in issuing the contracts. Let's wait and see....
It is clear that these continual failures, errors, etc. from different departments of the government and from ministers suggest that a digital ID would descend into absolute chaos and farce from start to finish. It is up to us to fight against this intrusion on our privacy and our safety in the hands of such an incompetent government, no matter who is in power.
Source: Daily Mail
UK taxpayers paying £15m a year to Chinese firms to run asylum hotels as part of Beijing's £190 billion British business empire
CLICK HERE to read the article from the Daily Mail
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