A minister has admitted that the Manston asylum processing centre is not operating legally, telling Sky News the government wants to “get a grip” on the situation.
Asked whether he was happy that asylum seekers were being detained illegally, climate minister Graham Stuart told Sky News: “Obviously not. None of us are comfortable with it. We want it tackled, we want to get a grip, that’s exactly what the home secretary is focused on.”
The Home Office is facing legal action over conditions at the former RAF airfield in Kent, where around 3,500 people are being detained for weeks in a site intended to hold 1,600 for a matter of days.
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Mr Stuart’s admission comes after immigration minister Robert Jenrick revealed a judicial review had been launched and implied the facility was not operating legally, telling Sky News that he expects it will “be returned to a well-functioning and legally compliant site very rapidly”.
Hundreds of people have been removed from Manston in recent days, as MPs and officials raised concerns about the “wretched” and “inhumane” conditions.
The grim conditions at Manston were laid bare in a letter thrown by a young girl over the perimeter fence to a PA news agency photographer, claiming there were pregnant women and sick detainees there.
Reports suggest a group of 11 asylum seekers were left at London Victoria without accommodation after being driven there from Kent on Tuesday.
Mr Stuart sought to blame an “unacceptable surge” in small boat crossings for the problems at Manston, saying that the asylum “system is struggling to cope”.
“It is not where we want it to be right now and we are simply looking to balance that out, thousands more hotel rooms have been sorted out but it’s unacceptable to the British people and we need to do more to tackle the traffickers in what is an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration,” he said.
‘Unfortunate language’
He also conceded “unfortunate language” had been used over the migrant crisis, after the government was told to stop blaming Albanians by the country’s prime minister.
Mr Stuart said he was “grateful” to Albania for sending their senior police officers to the UK “to speed up processing”, following a rise in the number of people arriving in the UK from the southern European country.
“So we are trying to work in co-operation, but clearly there’s pressure,” he said.
“You can see it from councillors, you can see it from members of parliaments, you can hear it from people and journalists around the country.
“It can lead to language which is sometimes unfortunate and it is worth putting on record our gratitude to the Albanian government for their co-operation in working to sort this out.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has singled Albanians out several times over the past week when discussing the rise in people crossing the Channel on small boats, while immigration minister Robert Jenrick has also said Albanians are “abusing” the Modern Slavery Act to delay deportation attempts.
But the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has had enough, and tweeted on Wednesday that the British government needs to stop using Albanian immigrants to “excuse policy failures”.
Kent ‘at breaking point’
Ms Braverman has come under mounting pressure to get a grip on the Channel crisis as a record number of people continue to arrive in the UK.
Council chiefs in Kent have warned the county is at “breaking point” as a result of the situation, with the potential for disorder at Manston and the risk of far-right violence.
They have written to the home secretary – urging her to stop using the county as an “easy fix” – and have warned they are under “disproportionate pressure” because of Kent’s location.
There are no more school spaces for local children in Year 7 and Year 9 due to the unplanned arrival of young refugees, they said.