UK Military Families Left Shivering in Mould-Eaten, Unheated Homes as Migrants Enjoy Plush Hotels

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, a
Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Hundreds of active military servicemen and their families have been housed in mouldy homes with no heating or hot water as the government continues to host illegal migrants in plush conditions in hotels across the country, free of charge.

British soldiers and their families have been forced to huddle under sleeping blankets this weekend as hundreds of Army homes continue to have no working heating amid delayed repairs. Others have reported that their homes are riddled with mould and damp, despite private contractor Pinnacle reportedly receiving £144 million in March to revamp 46,197 homes.

Army Captain Will Matthews, who has done tours in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Iraq, posted a video on social media of his young baby sleeping amid mouldy conditions in his cold service home.

“Tired of living like this. Cupboards unusable due to never ending damp/mould. Drafty windows. No loft insulation, cold house all the time. Damp everywhere. At least it’s not where our baby sleeps either…. Oh, wait. Hang on… I’ve been reporting it since July to get it fixed in time for winter. Yet here we are,” he wrote.

A military mother, whose children are aged seven and two, claimed that her youngest child had come down with croup, resulting in the need for an inhaler. Claiming that she had been stonewalled for hours when trying to contact Pinnacle, she said: “It’s heartbreaking. My children are struggling. They’ve been up all night coughing.”

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, a senior military source confirmed that hundreds of people were impacted, saying: “It’s the contractor and lack of investment over years. It’s a f****** disgrace we continue to spend so much money on defence and treat people like this.

“I haven’t seen it as bad as this before, with babies getting ill.”

In response to the growing scandal, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he had “directed those responsible for accommodation services to up their game. I shall be speaking to all the Chief Executives directly early next week and yes, I am working over the weekend and I expect those who are contracted to look after our service personnel to do the same!”

The Ministry of Defence added: “It is unacceptable some personnel and their families are not receiving the level of accommodation ser­vices they deserve. We are working quickly with our contractors to resolve heating and water problems, on top of spending tens of millions to upgrade thousands of homes in the last year.”

For its part, the Pinnacle contractor said: “Our role is to take calls from families, raise the job and make an appointment with the family where possible. These are then transferred to the relevant MoD maintenance provider. We apologise to families for the inconvenience this is causing. We are bringing in more staff to help drive down wait times.”

The treatment of active members of the British military is a stark contrast to the conditions thousands of illegal migrants find themselves enyoing while they claim asylum, despite the majority coming from safe, first world, European Union nations France and Belgium prior to landing in Britain.

According to Brexit champion Nigel Farage, some 419 hotels across the United Kingdom are currently filled with migrants at a cost of around £7 million per day to the British taxpayer.

Farage, who spotlighted the issue of the government housing migrants in hotel accommodation in 2020, has also exposed the fact some migrants have been given VIP treatment during their stay, such as by receiving private tours of Anfield Stadium after a Premier League match.

In addition to the heavy financial burden on the public, the migrant hotels scheme has also come with violent consequences, such as the 2020 stabbing spree in Glasgow by a Sudanese man, who attacked six people, including police officer David Whyte, who was critically injured.

It was later reported that migrants at the hotel were not pleased with the free hot meals provided to them, as they often featured spaghetti or macaroni and cheese and therefore were not “culturally appropriate” for them.

Further security concerns about the scheme were raised earlier this year when it was revealed that the government had lost track of hundreds of migrants staying at allegedly “secure” hotels. Many of the migrants who absconded into the country had not been identified or even had their pictures or fingerprints taken by officials.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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