Steps being taken to ‘immediately’ improve situation at Manston migrant processing centre, Home Office says
Suella Braverman has confirmed that steps are being taken to “immediately” improve the situation at Manston migration centre, according to the Home Office.
These measures include bolstering the medical facilities currently on-site, supplying extra bedding and improved catering facilities, and providing more activities to support migrant welfare.
The department also confirmed that more than 1,000 people have been moved off the migrant processing site in the last five days.
Chancellor admits there are ‘no easy options’ as interest rates rise again – Politics latest
Ms Braverman has been criticised over the conditions at Manston, which is designed to hold a maximum of 1,600 people, and they are meant to stay there for up to 24 hours while they undergo checks, but it has been used to house around 3,500 people for weeks.
The overcrowded immigration centre in Kent has become a symbol of the “broken” asylum system the home secretary is under increasing pressure to fix.
Speaking after her visit on Thursday, Ms Braverman said: “I have met with our expert teams who work tirelessly to save lives and protect the UK’s borders. I wanted to see first hand how we’re working to reduce the number of people in Manston, support people there, and thank staff for all their efforts.
“I am incredibly proud of the skill and dedication shown to tackle this challenging situation here on a daily basis. This is a complex and difficult situation, which we need to tackle on all fronts and look at innovative solutions.
“To break the business model of the people smugglers, we need to ensure that the illegal migration route across the Channel is ultimately rendered unviable.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman (circled) arrives at Manston
But the MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, said it was a “great pity” the home secretary did not meet local MPs and council leaders during her trip to Kent.
“The small boats crisis is not just in the migrant processing facilities, it is on our Kent beaches, schools, services and housing,” she said.
“It’s a great pity that the home secretary wasn’t able to meet with Kent MPs and Kent council leaders to discuss first hand the serious local impact of this issue which Kent leaders have described as at ‘breaking point’.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Migrant centres ‘overwhelmed’
Braverman’s visit ‘well received’
The home secretary met Border Force staff in Dover earlier on Thursday to discuss Channel crossings operations before travelling to the processing centre by military helicopter to speak to staff and receive an update on the overcrowding crisis.
She later left the centre in Manston after spending two hours on site.
A Home Office source said that Ms Braverman held a 45-minute question and answer session with staff at the centre which was “well received”.
The home secretary did not take questions from the media during the visit.
Downing Street later defended the home secretary’s use of a military helicopter to travel to Manston.
“The home secretary was in Dover to receive an update on operations on the ground. That obviously involved operations in the Channel. She travelled on a military aircraft to see the area of operations at sea,” a Number 10 spokesperson said.
Several hundred people were moved to Manston over the weekend after an attacker threw petrol bombs at the Western Jet Foil processing centre in Dover on Sunday.
Read more:
‘Get a grip’: Starmer blames Tories for ‘broken’ asylum system
Minister rejects Braverman’s ‘invasion’ claim and says ‘I would never demonise people’
Lawyers on behalf of charity Detention Action and a woman held at Manston are threatening legal action against the home secretary over the conditions.
The charity said an urgent pre-action letter, sent to the Home Office on Tuesday, represented the first action against Ms Braverman around the “unlawful treatment” of people held at the facility.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Braverman and migrant row explained
Home Office facing a judicial review
Government minister Graham Stuart conceded earlier in the day that Manston was not operating legally and “none of us are comfortable with it”.
Asked whether he was happy that asylum seekers were being detained illegally, he 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.”
Hundreds of people have been removed from Manston in recent days, with immigration minister Robert Jenrick expressing hope that it will return to being “legally compliant” soon.
He revealed to Sky News on Wednesday that the Home Office is facing a judicial review over the situation, but insisted that was “not unusual”.
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 on Wednesday begging for help and comparing it to a “prison”.
The government found itself under further criticism last night after a group of asylum seekers were reportedly left at Victoria station in London without accommodation after being moved from Manston.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Minister ‘not happy’ with situation at Manston
Kent ‘at breaking point’
Ms Braverman’s visit came after council chiefs across Kent warned the whole county is at “breaking point”, with concerns of far-right violence fuelled by the failure to control the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.
Meanwhile, the PM’s spokeswoman did not deny reports that the government is trying to negotiate Rwanda-style deportation deals with countries such as Belize, Peru and Paraguay to reduce pressure on the system.
“We do plan to negotiate similar deals with other countries, akin to the Rwanda partnership, but it’s not helpful for us to comment on speculation around potential discussions,” she said.
The contentious Rwanda deal has been delayed by a number of legal challenges, but Ms Braverman is talking to at least three other countries about extending the locations in which asylum seekers could be deported to, according to the Daily Express.
Responding to the report, Eamon Courtenay, the foreign minister of Belize, tweeted that his country “is not in negotiations with the UK or any other country to accept migrants”.
He added: “We will not agree to accept exported migrants. That is inhumane and contrary to international law.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sir Keir Starmer slams the Conservative Party’s Rwanda plan
More Rwanda-style deals planned
Ms Braverman has admitted herself that the asylum system is “broken” and singled Albanians out several times over the past week when discussing the rise in small boat crossings, which she referred to as an “invasion on our southern coast”.
On Wednesday, Edi Rama, the Albanian prime minister, accused Britain of becoming like a “madhouse” with a culture of “finding scapegoats” during a migration crisis in which “failed policies” are to blame.
Four parliamentary committee chiefs piled further pressure on the home secretary to explain how the government will get a grip on both the situation at Manston and the migrant crisis in general.
In a joint letter to Ms Braverman, the chairs of the Home Affairs Committee, Justice Committee, Joint Committee on Human Rights and Women and Equalities Committee expressed their “deep concerns” over the “dire” conditions at Manston, asking what will be done to address the current situation and avoid overcrowding in future.
While council chiefs in Kent have also 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 arrival of young refugees, they said.
Labour has accused the government of “losing control of our borders” and said 12 years of Tory leadership is to blame for the “broken system”.
World
In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump’s tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life
The impact of Trump’s tariffs is reaching deep into every economy.
We travelled into the French rural heartland, heading for Cognac – the home of French brandy.
It is only half the size of Surrey but its exports to America are worth €1bn a year and that trade is now severely threatened.
The first buds are out on the vines of Amy Pasquet’s vineyard.
An American, she has married into the industry and with her French husband owns JLP Cognac.
She knows more than most the bond brandy has formed between their two countries that goes back to the war.
Tariffs latest: Follow live updates
Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”
The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.
However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”
Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.
It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.
Her French neighbours are appalled by what US President Donald Trump is doing.
She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”
A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition
Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.
In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.
The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.
They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.
Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war
How tariffs will affect your money
Could Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?
Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution
Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.
“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”
Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.
Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.
Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.
Confusion away from the chaos
Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.
In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.
“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.
It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned
France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.
In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.
It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.
Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.
Later she was meeting with her American distributors.
Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.
He says the entire industry is reeling
Sylvie Courselle with distributers
The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.
“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”
They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.
“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.
It is, she says, very stressful.
Gerry Keogh
The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.
America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Donald Trump its now seen here as turning on France and the rest of Europe in a reckless and unjustified trade war.
It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.
How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.
World
In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump’s tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life
The impact of Trump’s tariffs is reaching deep into every economy.
We travelled into the French rural heartland, heading for Cognac – the home of French brandy.
It is only half the size of Surrey but its exports to America are worth €1bn a year and that trade is now severely threatened.
The first buds are out on the vines of Amy Pasquet’s vineyard.
An American, she has married into the industry and with her French husband owns JLP Cognac.
She knows more than most the bond brandy has formed between their two countries that goes back to the war.
Tariffs latest: Follow live updates
Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community. and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”
The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.
However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”
Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.
It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.
Her French neighbours are appalled by what US President Donald Trump is doing.
She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”
A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition
Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.
In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.
The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.
They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.
Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war
How tariffs will affect your money
Could Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?
Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution
Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.
“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”
Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.
Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.
Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.
Confusion away from the chaos
Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.
In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.
“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.
It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned
France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.
In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.
It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.
Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.
Later she was meeting with her American distributors.
Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.
He says the entire industry is reeling
Sylvie Courselle with distributers
The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.
“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”
They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.
“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.
It is, she says, very stressful.
Gerry Keogh
The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.
America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Mr Trump it is now being as turned on, as France, along with the rest of Europe, finds itself in what many would argue is a reckless and unjustified trade war.
It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.
How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway