The Land of Milk and Honey by Shane Bray

For years now, asylum seekers have not only been housed in hotels but also placed across ordinary residential streets—from HMOs in Greater Manchester (as part of the government’s “Operation Scatter”) or more recently to brand-new £300,000 townhouses in Suffolk, and even large-scale hostels like Driscoll House in London. This expansion of asylum accommodation has been ongoing, although the scale and visibility of it keep increasing. I understand they need shelter while their claims are processed—but once again, this government is only paying lip service to the root issue: deterrence.

This has never just been about hotels—or even the Suffolk townhouses, lavishly outfitted and placed in attractive villages. It’s about removing the incentives that make the UK appear rewarding for illegal entry. For years, we’ve seen hotels offer meals, phones, gyms—all at taxpayers’ expense. Meanwhile, countless working families struggle to afford their own essentials. The optics are disastrous: to many, it appears that illegal entry leads to a better standard of living than they can hope to secure themselves.

Removing hotels doesn’t fix the problem. Whether it’s hotels still in action, suburban HMOs juggling multiple occupants, or high-spec new builds in Suffolk, the system remains one that delivers too much comfort. It sends the wrong signal to people risking their lives to cross the Channel.

The UK needs a clear, bold and unapologetic message: entering illegally leads to no reward. Asylum claims won’t even be considered if individuals have passed through safe third countries and entered here illegally, no matter your circumstances. Accommodation should be no-frills: basic beds and food in purpose-built facilities—like portacabins on remote or disused land, old military sites. Anything above the basics is a luxury our overstretched system can ill afford. For some this seems unnecessarily harsh, but it’s that naivete that has led us here, we must be cruel to be kind, being too accommodating has created the behemoth of a problem we face today

That’s why Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has struck a chord with so many. “Operation Restoring Justice,” finally sets out the tough but necessary framework: withdrawing from international treaties that block deportations, detaining all illegal entrants regardless of age, and launching a mass deportation programme to remove up to 600,000 people in five years. The policy includes five deportation flights a day, new detention centres on MOD and RAF sites, and repatriation deals with countries across the world. Voluntary return incentives will also encourage those with no right to stay to leave.

This is the kind of bold action we need. It doesn’t tinker at the edges or throw taxpayers’ money at hotels, HMOs, and expensive new builds. It restores fairness. It tells people clearly: Britain is not a soft touch. It protects housing stock for British citizens and removes the incentive for people smugglers to sell the UK as a destination.

Meanwhile, Labour continues to talk about a housing crisis, while at the same time placing asylum seekers directly into the very homes ordinary families are waiting years for. This is fundamentally unfair. It proves that Labour will never be the party to solve this problem because they don’t even understand its true causes and are quite prepared to put illegal migrants at an advantage over the native populace who foot the bill. The Bell Hotel being taken to appeal being a prime example of this. In itself that is another scandal, the case should only have been decided on the basis of lawful planning, not political reasons as it was clearly decided on (this deserves an article in itself).

The real scandal isn’t just cost—it’s competition. British citizens wait years for council housing, yet we see families arriving days ago handed keys to expensive homes. That fuels resentment, and rightly so. Calling attention to this isn’t xenophobic—it’s a stand for fairness and realistic policy that actually serves the people that pay for it!

We must stop rewarding illegal entry. At Reform we offer a clear and uncompromising path to achieve that. Only a system that is uninviting, firm, and decisive will deter crossings, restore fairness, and protect both our borders and our communities, we must be cruel to be kind, needless deaths in the channel can and will be avoided if we aren’t putting ourselves out there as a land of milk and honey.