THE Home Office has abandoned plans to use a former prison site as accommodation for asylum-seekers after spending £15.4 million on its purchase without enough “due diligence,” it was revealed today.

HMP Northeye in East Sussex was bought last year under the Tories, costing twice as much as the previous seller had asked for it.

Last month, a National Audit Office report found that the Home Office had “cut corners” and “made poor decisions” amid pressure from the government to find more accommodation for asylum-seekers.

Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft told the public accounts committee yesterday that the site was no longer needed.

“Ministers decided only last week that we no longer needed it in the Home Office, either for detained or non-detained accommodation,” he said.

“So we will be working with our colleagues to see if it would be suitable for any other part of government and, if not, then we will be selling it.”

Sir Matthew said the site would only be sold for “a fair market value.”

Questioned on whether the Home Office had “got the balance right” on the purchase, Sir Matthew said that “on hindsight, we should have done more on the assurance side,” admitting that the department did not do enough “due diligence.”

He added: “We acted with pace, which was what ministers, quite rightly, were expecting of us.

“And I accept that there are lessons that we should learn and that we have already learnt from that pace.”

In a letter to local MP Kieran Mullan, Home Office Minister Angela Eagle confirmed that the government “has made the decision not to progress with this site” in his Bexhill constituency.