The Home Office has been told to “get a grip” over the issues at the Manston migrant processing centre – as a new report reveals detainees were not allowed to close toilet doors fully and had to sleep on the floor.
Some migrants have not been allowed access to mobile phones to inform their families if they were safe, while other “exhausted detainees” have waited more than 30 hours to be processed, the report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons found.
Manston is a non-residential facility that holds detainees for a maximum of 24 hours while their initial immigration paperwork is processed.
The site is only designed to hold 1,000 people but there are currently around 4,000 migrants there – more than any UK prison population.
While there is access to food, water, showers and toilets, there are no beds and there is no access to fresh air or exercise.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has faced criticism for the facility’s overcrowding and has been accused of ignoring legal advice that said migrants should be sent to hotels from Manston.
But on Monday she said she “never ignored legal advice” and since she was appointed by Liz Truss in early September has “worked hard to find accommodation to relieve pressure at Manston”.
However, she said illegal migration is “out of control” citing an “invasion on our south coast”.
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She also said the sheer numbers arriving via the Channel is making it impossible to provide accommodation for them.
Following the report’s publication, Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor has urged the government department and its contractors to speed up the processing of migrants and make “suitable provisions” so people can be moved off the site near Ramsgate in Kent as quickly as possible.
The inspection, which was carried out at the facility in July, warns that serious challenges remained for migrants crossing the Channel and arriving in Kent.
Image: A new report warns that serious challenges remain for migrants crossing the Channel
“The Home Office and contractors need to get a grip, they need to speed up the processing of migrants, they need to make suitable provisions so people can be moved off-site as quickly as possible and housed in humane and decent conditions,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Migrants are taken to sites at Western Jet Foil in Dover and Lydd Airport in Romney Marsh for health checks when they first arrive in Kent after crossing the Channel from Calais.
The Lydd Airport site was unoccupied when the inspection took place.
It reported “failings” in procedures at Manston that “undermine the resilience of the centre for dealing with increasing volumes of detainees”.
However, it found the accommodation was suitable for short-term detention and noted efforts by staff to “create a calm and even welcoming atmosphere”.
While Manston was found to have a “good amount” of accommodation available, at the time of the inspection, “much of it was out of use because there were not enough staff”.
Other “signs of strain” included “exhausted detainees” sleeping on the floor, including some who had been waiting more than 30 hours to be processed.
It comes as Conservative backbencher Sir Roger Gale told Sky News overcrowding at the facility – where outbreaks of MRSA and diphtheria have been reported – is “wholly unacceptable”.
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‘Breach of humane conditions’ at Manston
The prisons watchdog also found:
• Victims of trafficking and vulnerable detainees such as those with disabilities were “not always assessed or recorded appropriately”, with some not identified as “adults at risk” • Some detainees were banned from using mobile phones to let their families know they were safe and, in parts of the site, others were “inexplicably” not allowed to close toilet doors fully • Translation services were not always used so that detainees understood the situation.
Image: A shower area is seen inside an immigration processing centre in Manston
Mr Taylor said the inspection, which included two other migrant processing centres on the south coast, unveiled a number of “risks” about the facilities.
He added that recent information from “a number of credible sources”, including other watchdogs, suggested the current situation had “significantly deteriorated”.
In a bid to combat the problems, he plans a “swift return” to Manston for another inspection when he would “expect to see substantial improvements”.
“In the meantime, the Home Office and its contractors need to get a grip and urgently act on the findings of this report to make sure all detainees are held in safe, decent and humane conditions,” he said.
Labour MP Dan Norris has been arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Dan Norris MP was immediately suspended by the Labour Party upon being informed of his arrest.
“We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing.”
Police said a man in his 60s had been arrested on Friday on suspicion of sexual offences against a girl, rape, child abduction and misconduct in a public office.
Sky News has contacted Mr Norris for comment.
Mr Norris, 65, defeated Jacob Rees-Mogg to win the new seat of North East Somerset and Hanham in last year’s general election.
He has also lost the party whip in the House of Commons and has stepped down from his role as chair of the League Against Cruel Sports.
Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement: “In December 2024, we received a referral from another police force relating to alleged non-recent child sex offences having been committed against a girl.
“Most of the offences are alleged to have occurred in the 2000s, but we’re also investigating an alleged offence of rape from the 2020s.
“An investigation, led by officers within Operation Bluestone, our dedicated rape and serious sexual assault investigation team, remains ongoing and at an early stage.
“The victim is being supported and given access to any specialist help or support she needs.
“A man, aged in his 60s, was arrested on Friday (April 4) on suspicion of sexual offences against a girl (under the Sexual Offences Act 1956), rape (under the Sexual Offences Act 2003), child abduction and misconduct in a public office. He’s been released on conditional bail for enquiries to continue.
“This is an active and sensitive investigation, so we’d respectfully ask people not to speculate on the circumstances so our enquiries can continue unhindered.”
Mr Norris first entered Parliament when Tony Blair came to power in 1997 and served as the Wansdyke MP until 2010.
He was an assistant whip under Mr Blair and served as a junior minister under Gordon Brown.
Mr Norris has also been West of England mayor since 2021 but is due to step down ahead of May’s local elections.
A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports, a UK-based animal welfare charity which campaigns to end sports such as fox hunting and game bird shooting, confirmed he had stepped down from his role.
“The charity cannot comment further while an investigation is ongoing,” a statement said.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.
JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.
“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”
The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.
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JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.
“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.
Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.
Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.
Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.
In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.
Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.
They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.
The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.
Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.
“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.