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Wethersfield: Tuberculosis cases at asylum seeker site

Steve Hubbard/BBC The entrance to Wethersfield airbaseSteve Hubbard/BBC
The first 46 residents were moved in to the Wethersfield site earlier in July

People have tested positive for tuberculosis (TB) at a former RAF site which is housing migrants, the government has confirmed.

The Home Office said those affected were being isolated at MDP Wethersfield near Braintree in Essex.

The site is earmarked for 1,700 adult male asylum seekers and the first 46 residents moved in earlier this month.

A local council is seeking a judicial review to stop the Home Office using the site.

A government spokesperson refused to confirm the number of positive TB results but defended the ongoing arrangement at Wethersfield.

"We continue to work across government and with local authorities to look at a range of accommodation options," the spokesperson said.

Jon Ironmonger Protesters in Wethersfield, Essex holding large bannersJon Ironmonger
About 250 people turned out for a protest in Wethersfield in March
PA Media A bedroom at the airbase. It shows multiple beds including bunk beds in one roomPA Media
The government plans for migrants to spend no more than nine months at Wethersfield

Officials are testing whether the cases have developed into active TB, which means the bacterial infection has spread to other parts of the lungs or body.

All migrants undergo initial health screening at Western Jet Foil and Manston in Kent before comprehensive checks at their onward accommodation, the Home Office said.

The spokesperson said Wethersfield had doctors and nurses from a local healthcare provider.

'Flailing'

West Lindsey District Council, Braintree District Council and a local resident have been given permission to bring a judicial review contesting the use of Wethersfield and RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman is trying to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels, which she says costs UK taxpayers £6m per day.

Up to 2,000 migrants could also be housed in tents at some disused military sites, according to a Whitehall source, which Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said showed the government was "flailing around".

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