PLANS to cram asylum-seekers into barges and RAF bases will cost tens of millions more than housing them in humane conditions in hotels, official data shows. 

The National Audit Office (NAO) revealed today that the Home Office expects to splash out £1.2 billion on converted accommodation — £46 million more than they would on hotels.

The department is developing four major projects  — the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, the former RAF bases at Scampton in Lincolnshire and Wethersfield in Essex, and ex-student accommodation in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

The Home Office expects to spend £230m on the projects by the end of this month.

In January, the watchdog found that only two sites were open, accommodating just 900 people.

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon described it as “another alarming example of bad policies being implemented badly at huge financial and human cost.”

Care4Calais is taking legal action over the use of Wethersfield Airfield for asylum accommodation, which has been described as a “military-style prison camp.”

The charity’s chief executive, Steve Smith, said: “Our volunteers are having to raise safeguarding concerns on an almost daily basis, regularly about people expressing suicidal thoughts.

“Now we know that inflicting this trauma on people has come with a price tag of £1.2bn, and costs more than using hotels.

“Someone in government has to be held accountable for the fear and trauma they have created.”

A Home Office spokeswoman argued that the new sites are “better value for money,” and said that the government was set on passing the Safety of Rwanda Bill to “get flights off” and “end asylum hotel use for good.”