Asylum seeker plan for RAF base would 'ruin Dambusters' legacy', warns Starmer

06 April 2023 , 12:11

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Lancaster bombers from 617 squadron, later known as The Dambusters, were based at RAF Scampton (Image: Press Association)

Keir Starmer has blasted plans to house Channel migrants at the former home of the Dambusters.

The Labour leader said it would “ruin” the famous unit’s “legacy”.

The Government wants to place refugees at the mothballed RAF Scampton base in Lincolnshire.

The airfield was where Lancasters from Bomber Command’s 617 Squadron led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson launched their famous “bouncing bomb” raid on the dams of the Ruhr Valley in May 1943, immortalised in the 1955 film starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave.

More recently, it was home to the daredevil Red Arrows, the air force’s Aerobatic Display Team.

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But under plans put forward by Tory ministers, it will become home to 2,000 asylum seekers - a move critics say will jeopardise proposals to transform the site.

Wing Commander Guy Gibson (third from right) led the 1943 raid on the Moehne and Eder dams in the famous Dambusters raid (Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Visiting Scunthorpe, just 20 miles from the iconic air base, Labour leader Mr Starmer said: "I think the Government's completely wrong to press ahead with the plan to put 2,000 asylum seekers at Scampton.

"It will cut across, drive a coach and horses through a really important initiative for investment, for jobs, of tech jobs in an area that desperately needs them.

"The idea of cutting through all that is wrong in principle, that's why so many local people are so concerned about it, because they can glimpse the future there and the Government's about to take it away from them.

"It is also likely to ruin the legacy of the Dambusters. You know, this is an iconic site.

The Red Arrows were also based at Scampton (RAFAT Photog/Crowncopyrht22/SWNS)

"The Government is wrong, completely wrong - they should reverse their decision.

“I'm not surprised at the level and scale of local opposition to what is a completely wrong decision by the Government.

"I don't think they've even been there to scope out what this would do and the impact it would have on local communities."

Labour leader Keir Starmer blasted the plan (PA)

West Lindsey District Council has launched legal action against the plan, claiming the site was not "appropriate" and it would affect plans for the £300million regeneration project.

The Government says the move is needed to reduce the reliance on hotels, which costs the taxpayer more than £6m a day.

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Ben Glaze