An undercover video today reveals the appalling conditions inside the Government’s Manston migrant centre, raising fresh questions over the Tories’ handling of the crisis.
Footage obtained by the Sunday Mirror shows the squalid setting endured for weeks by many who make their way across the Channel.
It was taken on the day Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited the centre by helicopter, in the wake of embarrassing headlines about the failures.
The footage of the site, 20 miles from Dover, shows detainees sleeping on mats on the wooden floor of a marquee as temperatures plunge.
One insider told us tonight: “These conditions seem more like a third-world country than something you’d expect to see in Britain. It’s appalling.”
Manston was designed to hold 1,600. At its most overcrowded a reported 3,500 were held there for weeks.
The whistleblower who gave us the clip told us: “It’s cramped, with people sleeping on wooden floors under thin blankets. Some are there for 25 days.”
Migrants are meant to stay just 24 hours and then be moved on to detention centres or to accommodation such as hotels.
Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley said: “After all we’ve learned about serious infectious diseases at Manston, it’s concerning to see people still crushed up together, still apparently without mattresses or pillows.
“The conditions are truly inhumane. The Home Office set up Manston as a processing centre. No one should be there more than 24 hours.
“We believe the Home Secretary has broken the law in detaining people for weeks in these appalling conditions.”
The worker who filmed the 10-second clip on Thursday told us: “They get a hot dog for breakfast, a sandwich in the afternoon, with three biscuits and a packet of crisps, then a burger and handful of chips in the evening.
“These are grown people. After 20 minutes they’re hungry again. A lot of people are complaining about health problems. Until a couple of weeks ago there were no shower facilities.”
Overcrowding is understood to have worsened after Ms Braverman blocked the transfer of migrants elsewhere amid the soaring cost of housing them in hotels – estimated at £6million per day.
Several hundred more were moved to the centre, near Ramsgate, after last weekend’s petrol bomb attack at an asylum processing centre in Dover.
Charity Medical Justice has called for all UK migrant detention centres to be closed, with those awaiting immigration decisions told to report in instead.
The charity said it found “ineffective” mental health screening for torture and trafficking survivors at the UK’s seven Immigration Removal Centres.
It said vulnerable asylum seekers suffered segregation and excessive force, got inadequate medical support, and were at times held in handcuffs.
There were five suicides at IRCs from 2016 to 2021, according to INQUEST, a charity that monitors state-related deaths.
Medical Justice spokeswoman Emma Ginn said their findings undermine Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s claims that Britain is a “compassionate, welcoming country”.
She added: “Neglect in immigration removal centres has led to deaths. Where’s the compassion in that?”
The closure call was backed by the British Medical Association. Dr Jan Wise, of the BMA’s medical ethics committee, said: “The situation poses a grave threat to mental and physical health.”
Guidance for detention centres says physical force and restraints should only be used after a risk assessment.
The Home Office said it reviews all such use to ensure it is proportionate and justified.
They said: “We have policies and procedures to safeguard vulnerable people and we remain committed to further improving our safeguards.
“Individuals have access to doctors and nurses and support is provided to those with mental health concerns.”
Riot police were sent to Harmondsworth Immigration Detention Centre, near Heathrow Airport, today after 100 detainees with knives and other weapons were said to have broken into the courtyard when the electricity went off overnight. No injuries were reported.
16-month hotel hell for family
A mum who fled violence in Sudan has told of her asylum hell being stuck in a tiny hotel room with her three kids for 16 months.
Mariam – not her real name – crossed the Channel on a small boat while pregnant last year.
She and her three sons were sent to Reading where they are waiting to hear if they can stay in the UK.
She shares a double bed with her two-year-old son. Her eldest, who is seven and has learning difficulties, sleeps in a single bed while her baby sleeps in a cot sourced by refugee charity Care4Calais. Mariam, 32, said: “The room is small. There’s no outdoor space for them to play. We just sit in the room and we eat in here, too.”
There has been no progress on the family’s application despite social services and Mariam’s midwife urging authorities to prioritise their case.
Mariam said: “It is very difficult not knowing if we can stay.”
The Home Office says claims are decided within six months but may take longer if complicated.
Sam Jonkers of Care 4 Calais, which estimates the wait is now close to two years, urged the Government to speed up the process. She also called for communal and outdoor spaces at migrant hotels.
