Suella swoops in by Chinook to see camp at centre of storm
‘A complex and difficult situation’
SUELLA Braverman made a flying visit to troubled Manston migrant centre yesterday as the row over conditions at the facility rumbled on.
Wearing a bulky flight helmet and jacket, she swooped in by Chinook helicopter and promised to tackle modern slavery laws as cases surged to record levels driven by claims from Albanians.
There were 15,867 lodged in the year to September by foreign nationals and Britons who claimed to have been exploited or trafficked, up 28 per cent on the previous 12 months.
The Home Secretary – who was on a tour of asylum processing centres in Kent – said she was ‘committed’ to reforming the legislation amid concerns that it is being abused by migrants and criminals.
After arriving by car, Mrs Braverman toured the Western Jet Foil site in Dover, which is used to process small boat arrivals and was the scene of a petrol bomb attack on Sunday, before viewing the Channel from the military Chinook.
She then flew to the Manston asylum reception centre near Ramsgate following concerns about conditions at the former Ministry of Defence base.
MPs heard last week how some migrants spent weeks at the site, which was only meant to hold people for 24 hours, and there had been cases of diphtheria and scabies.
Mrs Braverman said: ‘I wanted to see how we’re working to reduce the number of people in Manston, support people there, and thank staff.
‘This is a complex and diffiminister cult 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 the illegal migration route across the Channel is ultimately rendered unviable.’
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted the Home Secretary was prepared to ‘ face the music’ over the migrant crisis.
No10 confirmed migrant numbers at Manston were down to 2,700 last night from a peak of 4,000. It was built to house 1,600 temporarily.
A spokesman said: ‘Over 1,000 have been relocated since Sunday. But those numbers are continually changing as we move people into alternative accommodation.’
It came after Government Graham Stuart conceded Manston was not operating legally, adding: ‘None of us are comfortable with it.’
It emerged yesterday that campaigners had threatened legal action against the Home Secretary over conditions at Manston. Lawyers for the charity Detention Action sent a ‘pre-action’ letter to the Home Office, claiming a woman from a non-European country held at the camp was ‘unlawfully detained... in egregiously defective conditions’.
Home Office figures out yesterday showed 4,586 modern slavery claims were lodged between July and September – up 38 per cent on the same period last year and the highest quarterly figure since records began in 2009. Claims can include allegations of trafficking, being forced to work and forced into prostitution.
Claims by Albanians also climbed to the highest on record, with 1,294 in the quarter – double the 636 seen in the same period last year. Albanians made up the largest nationality for the third quarter in a row – accounting for 28 per cent of modern slavery claims, followed by Britons (23 per cent).
Three-quarters of claims by Albanians were from adults, while 80 per cent of British claimants were children.
The figures also showed more people than ever were claimed to have been exploited abroad rather than in the UK. Just over 2,000 claims in the latest quarter – 44 per cent of total – related to exploitation said to have taken place overseas. Home Office officials confirmed last week that the rise in Albanian claims reflected the increased numbers arriving by small boat across the Channel. They made up 12,000 of the 40,000 arrivals so far this year.
Nine out in ten Albanians who lodge a modern slavery claim see it accepted by the Home Office, officials added.
It takes around 450 days to process a claim. During that time claimants receive accommodation, legal aid, a weekly allowance and counselling.
Albania’s Crown Prince Leka attacked Britain yesterday, tweeting: ‘Stop demonising us for your... political benefits.’