Controversial plans to house up to 1,500 asylum seekers at a disused North Yorkshire RAF base were 'scrapped' after the Ministry of Defence withdrew its offer of the site, Ben Wallace has confirmed.

The Defence Secretary told reporters he had 'obligations to do something else with that site' but that others have been made available to the Home Office if it wishes to press ahead with the proposed reception centre in another location.

The shock plans for an accommodation and processing centre in the small village of Linton-on-Ouse, between Easingwold and York were announced by the Home Office in April, with around 60 men expected to be housed there by the end of May and eventually up to 1,500 asylum seekers.

Residents launched a bitter battle against the plan saying the tiny village was the wrong place and would be overwhelmed by the centre where male asylum seekers whose applications were under review would be housed for up to six months.

Villager Olga Matthias, part of the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group said she was “over the moon” at the news. “We are delighted,” she said.

“The Government had effectively put the sword of Damocles over the whole village for the past four months, so my sense of relief has to be echoed by everybody else now the uncertainty has gone.

“We have said all along that this was ‘wrong plan, wrong place’ and if the Home Office had done even a tiny bit of research before the announcement they would have seen this was the wrong place.”

The revelation by Ben Wallace came after former chancellor and Richmond MP Rishi Sunak said he would scrap the plan if he becomes prime minister.

He said the centre clearly did not have local support and he would look for an “alternative solution”.

News that the scheme had been scrapped altogether came throughTory leadership rival Liz Truss who told reporters: “My understanding from the Defence Secretary is that site is not going ahead. So it’s a moot point because it won’t be going forward.”

Mr Wallace confirmed during the same visit he had “withdrawn the offer of that site to the Home Office”.

He told reporters: “Mr Sunak didn’t oppose it when he was in Government, so that’s a new surprise, but I think, because he’s not in Government, he won’t know what’s been going on and I’ve withdrawn the offer to the Home Office for that site.

“It’s been with them for a number of months, I have obligations to do something else with that site and there are other sites that have been made available to the Home Office if they wish to take it up.”