The alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers at Manston processing centre will be investigated as part of an independent inquiry set to open next month, the Government has announced.
Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said the probe, which was first approved under the former Tory government, would start on March 17.
Lawyers for some of the migrants who were held at the site had argued for a statutory inquiry, which can compel witnesses to give evidence under oath, and to which the previous administration agreed last March.
But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has opted instead for a non-statutory inquiry, reversing her predecessor James Cleverly’s decision.
Announcing new details of the investigation on Wednesday, Dame Angela said it would be chaired by Sophie Cartwright KC, a senior barrister with past experience of inquests and inquiries.
The investigation will look at the “decisions, actions and circumstances which led to” the conditions at Manston, and examine whether there are “lessons to be learned” regarding the Home Office’s handling of the incident, she said.
The situation at Manston was said to have reached a nadir in 2022 after concerns were raised about overcrowding at the site, which has a 1,600-person capacity but was holding 4,000 people in November that year.
Health authorities said at the time that migrants at the site, which is used to process people who have arrived by small boats to the UK, would be vaccinated against diphtheria after an outbreak of the highly contagious disease in England.
Lawyers acting for some 96 asylum seekers at the centre have said they had faced “egregious conditions”, including “instances of humiliation”, that affected their “personal hygiene and wellbeing”.
Dame Angela said on Wednesday: “The Government will make no comment on issues which are now in the purview of the inquiry until it has concluded, but we will encourage all current and former public officials with evidence to provide to the inquiry to co-operate with its requests for assistance.”
