Fourteen years ago it was common practice to lock up children in Harmondsworth detention centre in my constituency. It even had a classroom and teachers. I visited the children, and on one occasion they had written poems. One young girl had come up with one that said: “Freedom is the sand outside the gate.”
It broke my heart seeing these children in what was effectively a prison, and still is. That’s why, in 2010, I welcomed wholeheartedly David Cameron’s commitment to end the detention of children.
In the government’s so-called illegal migration bill, the power is restored to the secretary of state to detain children “of any age” in “any place the secretary of state considers appropriate” (Tory ex-cabinet minister urges rethink over child detentions in small boats plan, 12 March).
On 27 March this bill could pass through the House of Commons. Surely there must be enough of us in parliament, in our country’s many religious and civil society bodies, and in society overall, to prevent this, in the name of humanity and common decency.
John McDonnell MP
Labour, Hayes and Harlington
