Migrants moved from overcrowded centre – as figures show 222 children put in hotels are missing
Hundreds of migrants have been moved from an overcrowded immigration centre in Kent – with the government accused of presiding over a “shambles”.
The Manston processing centre is designed to hold up to 1,600 people for no more than 24 hours – but as of Monday, there were 4,000 on the site.
Sky News has been told that some migrants are threatening to self-harm and go on hunger strike, with unrest “spreading across the camp”.
And in other developments, new figures suggest 1,322 asylum-seeking children have been housed in hotels rather than long-term homes over a three-month period – and 222 of them are missing.
Last night, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said “good progress” has been made in alleviating overcrowding at Manston, with the number of migrants there “falling substantially”.
Mr Jenrick expects more people to be moved today, and said: “Unless we receive an unexpectedly high number of migrants in small boats in the coming days, numbers will fall significantly this week.
“It’s imperative that the site returns to a sustainable operating model and we are doing everything we can to ensure that happens swiftly.”
Local Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has also said that “several hundred” have been relocated, but it is unclear whether they are being taken to hospitals or alternative accommodation.
On Monday, Sir Roger had warned the situation at Manston was a “breach of humane conditions” – and given there have been reported outbreaks of MRSA and diphtheria, he described overcrowding as “wholly unacceptable”.
The British Red Cross also said: “It’s clear that immediate action is required to ensure that the men, women and children who have just made a dangerous and potentially traumatic journey have their basic needs met in a safe environment.
“No one should experience overcrowded accommodation that puts them at risk of disease and potentially being detained unlawfully.”
‘Unrest is spreading across the camp’
In an exclusive interview, Sky News has been told that some migrants inside Manston are threatening to self-harm and go on hunger strike in protest at being detained.
The Prison Officers’ Association represents 170 people who are working at the site – and assistant general secretary Andy Baxter, who saw conditions for himself when he recently visited the centre, has warned “unrest is spreading across the camp”.
Mr Baxter told Sky’s Lisa Holland: “Our members are facing threats from people constantly saying ‘What’s happening to me? Where am I going? When will I be getting moved on?’
“When our members can’t give them an answer, people start making threats to have sit-down protests, threats to go on hunger strike and people making threats of self-harm.”
He said some POA members have concerns for their safety, and there have been a few incidents of people making homemade “weapons” from things like wooden cutlery and toothbrushes.
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Migrants ‘threatening self-harm’
Warning that there could eventually be a “serious breakdown in public order” at Manston, Mr Baxter added: “So far there are no incidences of those weapons being used on anyone – it seems to be something that people want to carry – but our members are really concerned.”
Some of the people being held at Manston have been there for weeks as there is no alternate accommodation to move them to, and they cannot leave until they have somewhere to go.
It is difficult to speak to people inside because they have had their phones taken off them.
But the charity Humans for Rights Network shared accounts with Sky News from two asylum seekers who were in Manston about a month ago. They are both 16-year-old teenagers from Sudan, and are now in hotels in London.
One said: “I spent 17 days in Manston. I slept on a blanket and was covered with another blanket which was not enough for me and I was feeling cold. There were daily fights between people during my stay.”
The other said: “There were no beds in the tents, not even chairs. We used to put the food boxes on the floor and slept on them.
“I spent all the time in the clothes they gave me when I arrived and they were wet with rainwater. A skin disease spread during my stay and I was afraid of getting infected with it.”
We can’t independently verify these accounts, but Mr Baxter described seeing “large marquees with quite poor facilities” – and a lack of beds and furniture.
Councils struggling to cope
Away from Manston, councils have “significant concerns” about unaccompanied children being sent to live in hotels by the Home Office – with local authorities often not informed ahead of time.
More than 1,300 child migrants were placed in hotels this summer – and as of 19 October, 222 of these young people are missing.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said that, when a child goes missing from hotel accommodation, the Home Office works “very closely with local authorities and the police to operate a robust missing persons protocol”.
The Local Government Association is urging the government to work more closely with councils – and help them support children coming to the UK without parents or guardians.
Louise Gittens, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: “Councils don’t want to see any child placed in a hotel by government, which is completely unsuitable for unaccompanied children.
“It is deeply concerning and unreasonable that these hotels, which were introduced as a short-term emergency measure, remain in use, especially as the number of children going missing from them continues to grow.
“We urgently need a plan to tackle this crisis and ensure children can move quickly to their permanent placements.”
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Braverman and migrant row explained
Braverman criticised
Yesterday, peers in the House of Lords criticised Ms Braverman – with Labour’s home affairs spokesperson Lord Coaker describing the situation regarding asylum processing as a “shambles” with “terrible consequences for people”.
His Liberal Democrat counterpart, Lord Paddick, attacked the “woeful track record” in processing claims – as well as the home secretary’s “reckless rhetoric”.
But former Brexit secretary Lord Frost defended Ms Braverman, and said: “We have seen over the last couple of days what seems to me to be an almost obsessional pursuit of the home secretary who is dealing with a series of extremely difficult substantive problems.
“A pursuit on the basis of leaks, anonymous briefings, the usual oversensitivity about words.”
Robert Jenrick has defended being handed a £75,000 donation from a company which had received money from a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), despite criticising Labour over the freebies row.
Questions have been raised over the ultimate source of the funds from The Spott Fitness, which gave Mr Jenrick three separate £25,000 donations in July.
As first reported by Tortoise Media, the company received a loan from a firm based in the BVI.
The Tory leadership contender told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that The Spott Fitness “as I understand it… is a fitness company that operates in the UK”, and the donation was “perfectly legal and valid”.
Politics Live: Tory leadership candidates faced questions on Sky News
Mr Jenrick spoke to Sky News alongside the three other rivals to replace Rishi Sunak, as the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham kicks off.
During the interviews, Kemi Badenoch said she is a fighter and if someone takes a swing at her “I will swing back”.
Meanwhile, Tom Tugendhat defended his “posh boy public school background”, saying his military service has given him leadership skills, while former home secretary James Cleverly refused to name any of the previous four Tory prime ministers as being to blame for the party’s general election defeat, saying the public “don’t like infighting”.
Jenrick says donations ‘valid’
Asked about the donations from The Spott Fitness, which have been declared on his MPs’ register of interests, Mr Jenrick said: “As I understand it, this is a fitness company that operates in the UK.
“It’s a perfectly legal and valid donation under British law and we’ve set it out in the public domain in the way that one does with donations.”
Pressed for details on who owns the company and who works for it, the former immigration minister said this would be set out “on Companies House in the normal way” and he has “obviously met people who are involved in the company”.
“What people are criticising Labour for is actually rather different,” he added.
“Labour are being criticised for their rank hypocrisy that they spent years complaining about other political parties and then they’ve chosen to take off donors and cronies and to give passes to Number 10 in response.”
The Labour Party Conference in Liverpool last week was overshadowed by a donation and freebies row, after it emerged Sir Keir Starmer accepted over £100,000 in gifts since 2019.
Starmer has been criticised for accepting freebies. Pic: Reuters
Questions have been raised in particular over the large amount given by Labour peer and TV executive Lord Alli, who had a pass to Number 10 for a short time in order to attend meetings, the government said.
The Conservatives are now gathering in Birmingham since their worst defeat at the ballot box in history at the July general election.
Robert Jenrick speaks to Trevor Phillips
Jenrick backs ‘cast iron cap’ on migration
Mr Jenrick, currently the frontrunner to replace Mr Sunak, said his party made “serious mistakes” and failed to deliver.
He is pitching himself as a “change” candidate, telling Trevor Phillips he would take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (EHCR) in order to get the failed £700m Rwanda asylum scheme up and running, and introduce a cap on migration.
He said this would be different from previous commitments to introduce a limit as the cap would be “legally binding… cast in iron”, with the number set “in the tens of thousands or lower”.
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‘I will swing back’
Badenoch: ‘If you swing at me I will swing back’
Mr Jenrick faces competition on the right from Kemi Badenoch, the former equalities minister.
Speaking to Phillips, she defended an Op-ed in The Daily Telegraph in which she claimed there was a rise in the number of migrants coming to the UK who “hate Israel”.
She said she was not referring to all Muslim immigrants “but there are some, those who buy into Islamist ideology, political Islam, they do not like Israel and we need to be able to distinguish between the two”.
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The combative shadow housing secretary also insisted she does not go looking for fights when asked about her rows with the likes of Doctor Who star David Tennant, but that she will stand up for herself.
The North West Essex MP said: “I will not stand there and let people punch me. If you swing at me I will swing back but I don’t look for fights.”
She added: “I am something that is just different and unique and that is why I stand out in this contest.”
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‘People have seen my faults’
‘Public don’t like bickering’
All four leadership contenders will make their case at the party conference this week, before another round of voting by MPs will reduce them to the final two, which the party membership will then vote on.
Mr Cleverly, who got the least votes of those remaining in the previous round, said his various cabinet roles in the past few years meant he has spent “more time promoting other people’s ideas” rather than his own – but that shows he is a “team player”.
He declined to name a prime minister who he blamed most for the party’s 2024 defeat but added: “I’ll tell you what the public told me they didn’t like – they didn’t like the constant infighting, they didn’t like the bickering.”
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Need to be ‘tough’ on Iran
Mr Tugendhat asked the public to judge him on his own record, rather than his public schooling.
“I think that decisions I have made for the last 35 years demonstrate the character that you are looking at,” he said.
“I have chosen consistently to serve our country. I have put myself on the frontline in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
An eight-year-old boy has died after sustaining “serious” injuries to his head and face after being shot at a farm.
Cumbria Police said they are investigating the incident, and said they were called to the farm – in the Warcop area – at around 2.50pm on Saturday.
They said they received “a report that a child had been seriously injured by a firearm at the property” and that police and North West Ambulance Service attended.
“The firearm was secured at the scene by police and an eight-year-old boy was taken to hospital by air ambulance having suffered serious and life-threatening injuries to his head and face,” they said.
“Sadly, the boy has died overnight.”
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Cumbria Police added officers arrested a man in his 60s at the scene on suspicion of assault GBH.
“He remains in police custody but is now under arrest on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter,” they said in a statement.
UK
Rosie Duffield ‘never thought’ she would quit Labour – but says Sir Keir Starmer ‘has problem with women’
Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield has said she never thought she would leave the party “in a million years” and suggested the prime minister has a “problem with women” after her resignation.
The Canterbury MP, who submitted a scathing resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer on Saturday, told the BBC she is “desperately sorry” to those in her constituency who voted for Labour.
“It’s not at all where I wanted to be. I never thought in a million years I would leave this party,” she told the broadcaster late last night.
“I’m trying not to get upset… it’s in your soul and your heart, particularly someone like me.
“I’m from a very different background to Keir Starmer. I was a single mum who needed the Labour Party.
“It’s just so profoundly disappointing as a Labour voter and activist and a former recipient of tax credits in a low-paid job to see this is what we’ve become.”
Read more
Rosie Duffield resignation letter in full
Letter is savage and most scathing to PM
Starmer freebie row about class – not corruption
Her resignation letter to the prime minister said she was “so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party”.
In the interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Duffield was asked if she thought Sir Keir “has a problem with women”.
She replied: “I’m afraid I do. I’ve experienced it myself.”
The now-independent MP said she and other female Labour backbenchers refer to “the young men who surround” Sir Keir as “the lads”.
“It’s very clear that the lads are in charge,” she added.
“They’ve now got their Downing Street passes and they’re the same ones briefing against me in the papers and other prominent female MPs.”
Her resignation letter specifically criticised Sir Keir’s treatment of Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott as “deeply shameful” after her long-term suspension.
Reacting to Ms Duffield’s resignation on Sky News, Labour minister Pat McFadden said he “regrets” her decision, but added: “It’s probably not a secret that she’s been unhappy for some time.”
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PM defends £20k donation from Lord Alli
On questions of “sleaze” that relate to Sky News revelations of the prime minister receiving more freebies than any other MP, he said he “wouldn’t characterise it in the way that Rosie has” and that there was “no public money involved”.
He also said he is “not ashamed of the party” and that “government is always tough” in light of Labour’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for thousands of pensioners.
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Starmer ‘hasn’t actually explained’
Ms Duffield told Kuenssberg Labour’s three months in power has been “mass hypocrisy” she “can’t be part of”.
“It’s greed,” she said. “Why else would someone on so much more money than most people get free gifts? He can absolutely afford his own clothes – we all can.”
She said Sir Keir “hasn’t answered” or “actually explained” the situation.
In response to the revelations on his donations, he said: “Wherever there are gifts from anyone, I’m going to comply with the rules.
“It’s very important to me that the rules are followed. I’ve always said that. I said that before the election. I reinforced it after the election. And that’s why shortly after the election, my team reached out for advice on what declarations should be made so it’s in accordance with the rules.
“They then sought out for further advice more recently, as a result of which they’ve made the relevant declarations.”
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